Horrifying video shows the moment a pod of sharks ate a young dolphin in the ocean off the coast of San Diego, California over the weekend.
Footage captured the carnivorous animals extracting chunks from the dolphin 100 to 150 feet from the sand at Torrey Pines State Beach on Sunday.
The clip shared by officials showed the animals bobbing up and down in the water minutes before the ten-foot-tall dolphin washed up on the beach.
“The shark is the ocean’s largest predator, and they will eat injured animals and very young animals and attack them by surprise,” said oceanographer Manuel Lazcano. FOX 5 San Diego.
The most recent incident comes after a woman was attacked on a nearby beach in November and had part of her leg taken off by a shark.
Horrifying video shows the moment a pod of sharks ate a young dolphin in the ocean off the coast of San Diego, California over the weekend
The clip shared by officials showed the animals bobbing up and down in the water minutes before the eight-foot-long dolphin washed up on the beach
The video shared on Sunday showed the gruesome moment the dolphin was repeatedly pulled down by at least one shark as a small red pool surrounds the animals.
“Today, sharks were seen feeding on a dolphin at Torrey Pines State Beach,” the wildlife sanctuary wrote in a post.
‘The 2.5 meter long dead dolphin washed up on the beach a few minutes later. Shark sightings have increased dramatically at Torrey Pines in recent years,” it read.
The Torrey Pines Nature Reserve went on to share a link to a report showing that the number of shark sightings and attacks has increased dramatically.
The video quickly garnered dozens of responses from concerned and upset residents. Others speculated about what happened between the animals.
“Just because they fed on it doesn’t mean they killed it. Sharks are great hunters BUT they also hunt when the opportunity arises,” one user wrote.
‘Maybe the dolphin was sick or dying and they saw it? The pod would never have let this happen if it was good enough to swim and fight,” added another.
Officials are now urging beachgoers to exercise caution, as the latest incident indicates the water may provide a healthy environment for sharks in the area.
Since then, signs have been posted on the beach to warn people of the danger of sharks. However, some say it doesn’t stop them.
“You always know they’re there,” surfer Jess Cauble told FOX 5.
The video shared on Sunday showed the gruesome moment the dolphin was repeatedly pulled underwater by at least one shark as a small red puddle surrounds the animals
The number of shark sightings has increased dramatically at Torrey Pines in recent years, officials from Torrey Pines Nature Reserve and State Beach wrote in a post on Sunday.
Torrey Pines State Beach in San Diego, California
In November, a young large white dog washed up on the same beach.
The eight-foot shark had been injured by fishing gear, including a larger hook and a guiding wire, officials said at the time.
Local ranger Dylan Hardenbrook said he found the shark with its mouth ripped wide from side to side.
He suspected that the cable wire had caught in its mouth and most likely it kept turning its head in an attempt to escape.
“There were very traumatic injuries to the mouth and head,” Hardenbrook said.
In the same month, Lyn Jutronich, 50, was swimming on Del Mar Beach when she was attacked by a shark on Del Mar Beach, just five miles away.
Jutronich said she and her swimming partner were resting in the water before heading back to shore when she felt something bump into her leg.
The woman said she sprang into action immediately and left after realizing what was happening.
“I looked down and I saw the shark biting my thigh,” said Jutronich.
“Fortunately it has been released. It may have shaken once, that made me cry, and then let go.’
In the same month, Lyn Jutronich, 50, was swimming on Del Mar Beach when she was attacked by a shark on Del Mar Beach, just five miles away
A person on the beach caught the moment Jutronich was seen getting help from lifeguards after being bitten
The shark that attacked Jutronich was seen in the water after the November 2022 incident
In 2022 CBS8 reported that an increase in white shark sightings in San Diego.
Dr. Chris Lowe, director of the Shark Lab at California State University Long Beach, told the outlet that the Southern California county is a hotspot for the animals and has become a “nursery” in recent years.
“About two years ago, we started seeing juvenile white sharks in San Diego County, and now that’s one of our biggest hotspots,” Lowe said.
The sharks range from four to nine feet before they reach six years old.
“There is a relatively low risk of people being injured by those juvenile white sharks that use our popular beaches as their nursery,” said Dr Lowe.