Shark washes ashore on Hilton Head beach. So what did a lifeguard do with it?

Laura Allen and her daughter stumbled across an unexpected sight recently as they walked a section of Hilton Head Island beach.

“It was sad,” Allen said Monday of the dead shark they found around 7:20 a.m. Thursday. “It looked like it was brought in with the tide,” she added.

The animal, identified from a photo Allen took as a blacktip shark by S.C. Dept. of Natural Resources Biologist Bryan Frazier, was located near Beach Marker 75, northeast of Coligny Beach, according to Shore Beach Services spokesperson Mike Wagner.

Wagner said one his lifeguards later buried the animal, estimated to be about 3 1/2 feet long, near the dunes.

Shore Beach lifeguards bury dead animals frequently, Wagner said, adding that three staffers buried a “small whale” a couple of weeks ago near Beach Marker 125, on the beach off Port Royal Plantation.

Frazier said that while there’s no formal database to track sharks washing ashore, he’s heard reports of five on Hilton Head so far this calendar year.

In March, a 7-foot-long sand tiger shark was found beached just south of the Sonesta Resort; SCDNR was called to dispose of the animal.

Sharks often wash up after interacting with fishing gear, Frazier said, explaining that could mean anything from a rod and reel to the net of a shrimp trawler.

“They can also beach for reasons unknown to us,” such as environmental conditions or ailments, he wrote in an email Monday afternoon.

Blacktip sharks get their name from the dark coloring that marks the ends of some of their fins. While they can grow as large as 8 feet, they are typically between 4 and 5 feet long, according to the Florida Natural Museum of History.

They are the most abundant sharks in Lowcountry waters, according to SCDNR research.

In May, Frazier told The Island Packet and The Beaufort Gazette that if you see a shark swimming in the surf off a South Carolina beach, it’s likely a blacktip.

Wagner said his staff will notify officials if an animal is too large to bury.

And when animals are buried, they are dragged as far up the beach and as close to the dunes as possible, he said.

“It was just sad to see it up there,” Allen, who was visiting from the Upstate, said.

“And scary,” she said, adding that she remembered earlier that week when lifeguards made tourists get out of the water after sharks were spotted near shore a short distance from Coligny Beach.

“I’m grateful to those who are watching out to make sure those of us at the beach are safe,” Allen said.

This story was originally published July 23, 2018 at 4:33 PM.