MEXICO: A dead whale washed onto a beach in Victoria’s far east Gippsland has attracted a white pointer shark measuring up to four metres long.
The 11-metre-long sperm whale carcass was spotted at Salmon Rocks, near Cape Conran, by members of the public at the weekend.
Since then the large shark has been seen near the dead whale, prompting a warning for swimmers to stay out of the water.
Mike Irvine, who works with Parks Victoria, went down to take a look and was surprised to see a white pointer shark circling near the carcass.
“We had a pretty good look at it and we started walking back along the beach to the car park and then I noticed a pretty big shark in the shore break heading towards the whale,” he told ABC Gippsland.
“It was in knee-deep, waist-deep water, a decent-sized shark thrashing around every time it got in the shallows and got back out to deeper water and cruised back and forward then had another go.”
Mr Irvine said it was “pretty spectacular” to see a large shark that close to the shore.
“That’s the one shark [in the photo] so you get a bit of an idea how big it is, because the whale in the foreground too,” he said.
“It’s a natural thing for whales to die and sharks to come in and clean up the mess.
“I grabbed my daughter’s hand pretty tightly a couple of times and said ‘don’t go in the water’
