Saturday, September 01, 2007

Sharks in NY? Who knew?


A Rockaways beach (in Queens) was closed Saturday afternoon after a shark washed up on the shore.

Park officials say a shark washed up on the shore this morning near Beach 109th Street.

Some beach-goers approached the creature and pushed it back into the water.

As a result, the Parks Department has closed the beach and the surrounding bay.

For more check out The New York Daily News story.

4 comments:

Linus said...

Pushed it back?! Hippies...

Bucky said...

Tonight on my nightly news, I learned that sharks are not native to New York. (NO!) Fisherman catch them in their nets and when they get to shore, release them in the waters here. Nice job, guys! Nice job.

Bucky said...

A sad ending...if you like sharks, I guess.

NEW YORK — A 5-foot-long shark that washed up on a crowded New York City beach this weekend — and was pushed back into the sea by beachgoers — is dead.

The shark frightened crowds at Rockaway Beach on Saturday morning when it splashed to shore. The thresher shark was not believed to be threatening to humans, but it sent hundreds of swimmers out of the water and closed over 10 blocks of the beach for hours on Labor Day weekend.

After the shark came ashore at Beach 109th Street and Rockaway Boulevard, several beachgoers pushed the fish back into the water. “It was like freaking out. Its tail was flopping everywhere,” 10-year-old McKenzie Pontieri said. “Maybe it got separated from its family. It looked sick.”

The dead fish washed ashore at Beach 113th Street at 6 a.m. Sunday, city officials said. That section of the beach had already been closed, as lifeguards watched the fish swimming near the shore for several hours beforehand.

Beaches, which had remained closed since the shark sighting, reopened Sunday morning.

“It is now safe to go back into the water,” said Parks Commissioner Adrian Benepe.

Cheri said...

Sharks are so misunderstood....