800-Pound Hammerhead Shark Spotted In Ocean City
**Editor's Note: This story is from 2015.
OCEAN CITY, Md. (WJZ)—A shark spotted swimming very close to the beach in Ocean City is causing a lot of commotion.
Alex DeMetrick reports, sharks have been spotted in and out of the water this week.
As summer returns to Ocean City, beach goers aren't the only ones visiting.
A fin slicing through the water in Ocean City is not a typical site. It is a shark but not a Great White, it's a 300-pound, 8-foot Hammerhead.
"What we're dealing with yesterday and today is what we believe is an injured or sick shark that is staying in close to shore which is unusual behavior," said Captain Butch Arbin, Ocean City Beach Patrol.
And its not the first Hammerhead to show up this week.
Monday night, a female was pulled ashore and started giving birth. Rescue crews recorded efforts to save the shark's pups.
"She started on the beach for us. I guess it was the stress of being pulled in," one witness said.
Then Wednesday, beach goers videoed the second shark.
An eyewitness says, "It came in, it was in 8 inches of water. You could see the actual Hammerhead."
The shark is covering a lot of Ocean City's beach front and lifeguards ordered people out of the water, wherever it was spotted in the past.
When the shark moved on, people were allowed back in. Normally, Hammerheads are not considered a danger to swimmers and there are far risky threats.
"People worry about sharks. They really should worry about using a crosswalk on a Coastal Highway,"Arbin says.
There has never been a shark attack in Maryland. In fact, more people have been injured and killed by lightning while on the beach.
A short time ago the Department of Natural Resources Police say they believe the shark may be injured or pregnant and they're asking people to leave it alone.
