Giant 24ft shark washes up on UK beach, as huge fish is forklifted

Giant 24ft shark washes up on UK beach, as huge fish is forklifted

A huge shark has washed up on a Scottish beach, leaving beachgoers in utter disbelief.

The basking shark, sometimes known as a 'Toothless Bruce' because of it lack of teeth, measured 24ft in length when it appeared on Maidens Beach in Ayrshire, Scotland.

The enormous creature had a rope caught between its mouth and wrapped around its tail when discovered by Yolanda McCall on Sunday evening, who at first mistook it for a whale.

She immediately reached out to British Divers Marine Life Rescue (BDLMR) and Scottish Marine Animal Stranding Scheme (SMASS) teams to help remove the shark.

Dramatic scenes showed the deceased animal having to be picked up on a forklift to remove it from the beach.

'It was tangled in a long loop of rope, in its mouth and caught around its tail,' Yolanda said.

'The creature was bobbing around in the water and we couldn't tell if it was dead or alive.

'I wanted to try to help it, if it was alive and floundering, so I put on a wetsuit and got in the water to check.

'Sadly it was dead, but it looked very complete, a recent death. Maybe it got tired trying to free itself.'

Basking sharks are an endangered species which are often spotted off the Ayrshire coast in the summer months.

Officials on the scene are said to have identified the animal as a basking shark.

She added: 'After the tide went out, we could see the full beautiful big creature.

'[It's] very sad.'

A spokesperson for HM Coastguard said: 'Just before 8.45pm on Sunday, June 30, HM Coastguard had a report of a beached cetacean at Maidens beach.

'Coastguard rescue teams from Girvan and Ballantrae were sent. British Divers Marine Life Rescue and the South Ayrshire Council were alerted.'