INQUISITR.COM / News & Politics

Swimmers Flee Water As Great White Shark Attacks Seal Off Cape Cod

By Dustin Wicksell
Published on: 01:30 PST, Aug 13, 2015

Beachgoers were chased from the water as a seal was attacked by a great white shark before coming ashore on an Eastham beach and dying on Wednesday, in just the latest shark interaction to take place off Cape Cod this summer.

The great white shark reportedly attacked the seal off Nauset Light Beach around 4 p.m., the Cape Cod Times noted. According to Paige Long, a dispatcher working with the Cape Cod National Seashore, the shark attack was witnessed by a lifeguard, who raised a purple alert flag and called swimmers from the water.

Chief Ranger Leslie Reynolds related that the beach remained closed for roughly an hour, and that the unfortunate seal made its way to shore before it expired.

“At 4:05 this afternoon visitors were 25 yards north of the guarded beach on Nauset Light Beach in Eastham, and saw a shark bite a seal. A lifeguard saw a fin and everyone saw a lot of blood in the water. The seal swam to the beach and died.”

Great white sharks have become a seasonal presence off the cape in recent years, migrating to the area in early summer as they seek out the large native population of seals. Cynthia Wigren, president of the Atlantic White Shark Conservancy, recently stated that the group is observing a larger number of the predators in the region than in previous years. As the Inquisitr previously reported, the conservancy is engaged in the second year of a population study focused on the white sharks. Last week, the researchers spotted 16 great white sharks in a single day, the largest number for a tagging expedition this season, as the Boston Globe reported.

The shark attack wasn’t the only incident to close a beach along the cape on Wednesday. At roughly the same time that the white shark attacked the seal, swimmers at Coast Guard Beach were pulled from the water after a lifeguard spotted a fin breaking the waves, close to shore. Authorities were later able to determine that the fin belonged to a minke whale, and not one of the cape’s great white sharks.

[Photo by Ryan Pierse / Getty Images]

Share this article: Swimmers Flee Water As Great White Shark Attacks Seal Off Cape Cod
More from Inquisitr