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VIDEO footage from a tourist at one of the most popular beaches in the United States has shown the shocking moment a shark washed up on shore.
In Pensacola Beach, Florida, on Thursday, vacationers noticed a shark lurking close to the shoreline.
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Beachgoer Tina Fey noted that the beast suddenly appeared while a group of people were swimming, per a post on Facebook.
It then got stuck on the sand and was left thrashing around as it tried to get back in the water.
Tina explained that nearby wildlife personnel and lifeguards allegedly told the group there was nothing they could do to help the shark, so they took matters into their own hands.
“We took action to get him back in the water since the wildlife people and lifeguards told us there was nothing they could do!! So we did our best to try to save him!!,” she wrote.
In the clip posted to social media, an on-screen caption read “Beach goers put shark back into water,” per New Orleans, Louisiana news outlet WWL-TV.
Three men could be seen dragging the shark by its tail, turning it around in the water to help it face out into the ocean and swim away.
Several witnesses could be heard claiming the beast was dead as it lay seemingly unresponsive.
Although, moments later, it began moving and swam away as the men made it back to the beach shore.
Tina’s husband, Josh, explained the situation in depth to WKRG.
“We were sitting on the beach just having a good time and my buddy just said, ‘Look out in the water there, man.’ I see that fin and I was like, yeah, it was two or three sandbars away from us,” he said.
“Eventually it just turned to the left and started coming directly beeline toward the shoreline, and I said, ‘That’s a big shark coming in.’ And we thought it was chasing some bait or whatnot, but it came all the way to shoreline and beached itself.”
He added: “It took four of us to enter into the water. I hope everybody else that comes to beaches and sees a distressed animal like that, you know, with sea turtles or anything like that, that they help them out.”
As The U.S. Sun previously reported, just a few states away in South Carolina, beachgoers at Hilton Head Island also captured footage of a shark near the shoreline devouring another predator.
In a video captured by resident Katy Albright, a shark moved to attack what appeared to be a stingray near the shoreline, per Savannah, Georgia outlet WSAV.
“Shark vs. a stingray on a Hilton Head Island beach,” read a caption.
Albright could be heard saying it was “incredible” as the waves crashed over the shark and the stingray.
Although it’s unclear exactly what kind of shark it was, it’s known that younger white sharks and lemon sharks feed on stingrays, per For The Win.
Florida International University also noted in a study that tiger sharks and hammerhead sharks eat stingrays.
The clip from Katy was posted online to WSAV’s Facebook page and accrued several comments.
Some users were concerned for the safety of beachgoers, while others cared about the sea creatures.
“I hope someone could help them out of that sand!!” one concerned commenter wrote.
“Too close to shore for my liking!” another said.
A third added: “Scary!”
For more on sharks, check out The U.S. Sun’s coverage of a shark attack on a popular United States beach that left a surfer with horror injuries.
The U.S. Sun also has the story of a man who survived an attack from a great white after it dragged him to the bottom of the sea.
