Shark falls from sky onto golf course

Guest Fri Oct 26, 2012 4:50 pm

New York: A two-foot long leopard shark apparently fell from the sky on the 12th tee of a Golf club in southern California.

The 2-pound writhing fish was discovered by an on-duty course marshal, who acted fast to save the shark. He loaded it onto his golf cart and drove it back to the clubhouse, where other employees joined the cause to save the wayward animal, the aol.com reported.

According to the Capistrano Dispatch, after briefly placing the shark in a bucket of homemade salt water, cart attendant Bryan Stizer used his break to drive the shark to the Pacific Ocean, about 4 miles away.

"I thought he was dead," Stizer told the Dispatch. "When I dropped him into the water, he just lied there for a few seconds, but then he did a twist and shot off into the water," Stizer said.

The shark, which reportedly had two bleeding wounds near its dorsal fin, is thought to have been dropped over the golf course by a predatory bird, though no one is known to have actually seen the fall.

There are ospreys and peregrine falcons in the area that could have snatched the shark from shallow waters before losing hold of it, said Julianne Steers, chief aquarist at the Ocean Institute near the golf course.

Fish falling from the sky is not an unheard-of phenomenon. The downpours of fish and frogs reported throughout history and around the world have been attributed to strong winds that pick up aquatic animals and deposit them many miles inland, the report said.

http://www.ndtv.com/article/world/shark-falls-from-sky-onto-a-us-golf-course-284840?pfrom=home-otherstories