{"id":206719,"date":"2025-10-17T14:39:15","date_gmt":"2025-10-17T14:39:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/206719\/"},"modified":"2025-10-17T14:39:15","modified_gmt":"2025-10-17T14:39:15","slug":"womans-jaw-drops-after-stumbling-across-huge-shark-on-scots-beach","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/206719\/","title":{"rendered":"Woman’s jaw drops after stumbling across huge shark on Scots beach"},"content":{"rendered":"

The nine-foot ocean predator was found washed up on a Shetland beach by an amazed holidaymaker but despite efforts to return it to the ocean it sadly died<\/p>\n

Michael Moran Audience Writer<\/p>\n

08:01, 17 Oct 2025<\/p>\n

The huge shark spotted on a remote beach at St Ninian\u2019s in Shetland
\n(Image: Jam Press\/Joy Peacock)<\/p>\n

A woman holidaying at St Ninian\u2019s in Shetland<\/a> was amazed to discover a nine-foot shark<\/a> washed up on a remote sandy beach. The ocean predator was still alive when holidaymaker Joy Peacock first discovered it, but it sadly died before it could be returned to the sea.<\/p>\n

A spokesperson for Shetland Wildlife<\/a> said attempts had been made to save the shark. They said: \u201cSaddened to witness this stranded blue shark at St. Ninian\u2019s. An attempt to re-float it failed.\u201d<\/p>\n

While blue sharks are spotted fairly often in the warmer waters around Cornwall and South Wales during the summer months, the Shetland Wildlife expert added: \u201cThe current status of this species in Shetland waters is unclear and poorly known.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is certainly the first we have ever seen here. An incredible creature.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"JoyJoy Peacock was amazed to find the 9ft shark(Image: Jam Press\/Joy Peacock)<\/p>\n

Joy, from East Yorkshire, said she was saddened to learn that the shark had died. She continued: “I was very sad to find it like that. Apparently, it\u2019s a blue shark.<\/p>\n

\u201cI couldn\u2019t identify it at the time,\u201d she added, \u201cit wasn\u2019t really what I expected to see.”<\/p>\n

At nine feet in length, the example that Joy found was on the larger side for blue sharks. They usually prey on squid and small fish such as mackerel and herring although they\u2019re not fussy eaters and have been seen hunting crustaceans, other sharks, seabirds, and marine mammals.<\/p>\n

\"shark\"Sharks are often seen in southern waters but very rarely as far north as Shetland(Image: Jam Press\/Joy Peacock)<\/p>\n

The largest blue shark ever caught in UK waters weighed a an impressive 256lbs (116kg) and measured a shade over 9ft (2.74m).<\/p>\n

Blue sharks aren\u2019t generally considered too be dangerous to humans but, as with any wild animal, they are best treated with caution.<\/p>\n

A swimmer on an organised excursion to watch sharks was actually bitten by a blue shark in the waters off Cornwall in 2022. The tour organisers said that they offered “the chance to have up close and interactive encounters with blue sharks in their natural environment.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"TheThe huge shark was spotted on a remote beach at St Ninian\u2019s in Shetland(Image: Jam Press\/Joy Peacock)<\/p>\n

The encounter turned out to be a little closer than anticipated when the swimmer was bitten on the leg. A spokesperson for the tour organisers said the company was “trying to understand why it happened and were in continued talks with shark experts”.<\/p>\n

The shark attack victim said they placed no blame on the animal: “I don’t for a second want this freak event to tarnish the reputation of an already persecuted species.<\/p>\n

“We all take these risks when we enter the habitat of a predator and we can never completely predict the reactions of a wild animal.”<\/p>\n

UK-based charity the Shark Trust says there have been no “unprovoked” shark bites in British waters since records began in 1847.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The nine-foot ocean predator was found washed up on a Shetland beach by an amazed holidaymaker but despite…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":206720,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[1397,5264,90,23315,14255,56,54,55,4407],"class_list":{"0":"post-206719","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-wildlife","8":"tag-environment","9":"tag-fishing","10":"tag-science","11":"tag-shark","12":"tag-shetland","13":"tag-uk","14":"tag-united-kingdom","15":"tag-unitedkingdom","16":"tag-wildlife"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/206719","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=206719"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/206719\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/206720"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=206719"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=206719"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=206719"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}