A 6ft-long sand tiger shark washes up on a British beach after being saved by a ‘brave mother’

A rare 6ft long small-toothed sand tiger shark has washed up on a popular British beach, hours after being saved by a ‘brave’ mother, it has been claimed.

The shark, found on Lepe Beach in the New Forest, Hampshire, is believed to be the first of its kind to be found in UK waters.

Alisha Openshaw, a mother of two, said she thought she rescued the big shark when she found it in the shallows off her local beach and dragged it into deeper water on Friday.

Although the 38-year-old saw it swim away, the shark has now been found dead on shore.

It was identified as a smalltooth sand tiger shark, a species listed as Vulnerable and rarely detected.

The shark, found on Lepe beach in the New Forest, Hampshire, is believed to be the first of its kind to be found in UK waters.

Efforts are now underway to retrieve the shark from Lepe Beach in Hampshire’s New Forest (pictured) for further examination and an autopsy. (File Image)

The deep-sea shark is known to be non-aggressive towards humans, but it normally prefers warmer waters to the cold UK shores.

Strictly protected species can grow up to 12 feet long and weigh up to 600 pounds.

According to the International Union for Conservation of Nature, there are probably fewer than 250 adult sand tiger sharks left.

Efforts are now underway to retrieve the shark from Lepe Beach in the New Forest, Hampshire, for further examination and an autopsy.

On Friday afternoon, Mrs Openshaw was on the beach with her children when she saw the creature on the beach which she thought had been there for a “good two hours” but despite a group of people looking on, no one had helped him.

So the hairdresser jumped in herself, dragged him into deeper water, and watched him swim away.

Ms Openshaw, from Dibden Purlieu, Hants, said: “I was heading to the beach for a walk, my mum was already there so I took the kids for a nice walk.”

‘There were a couple of people down there, and they saw the shark splashing around. He was splashing around in the water around the start, and I worried that no one would help him.

“At first I wasn’t sure what it could be, but once I got there I could definitely see it was a shark. He must have been in there for a good two hours, and I can’t believe no one tried to help him.

Lepe Beach, where the rare shark taco was found, is located in the New Forest, Hampshire.

Alisha Openshaw, a mother of two, thought she had rescued the great shark when she found it in the shallows off her local beach and dragged it into deeper water on Friday.

According to the International Union for Conservation of Nature, there are probably fewer than 250 adult sand tiger sharks left.

“I don’t want any animal to suffer, I can’t even kill a fly, and I know I just wanted to save it.”

The mother then pulled the animal by the tail into deeper water to make sure it was safe and could swim.

After that, the shark swam away in the direction of the Isle of Wight.

The mother said: “It was quite big, you only think about it later, only afterwards do you think, ‘Oh, I actually rescued a shark.'” We must have been in the water for about an hour.

But despite their best efforts, the shark made it ashore the next day.

She posted on Facebook: ‘Just your standard Friday afternoon at the beach! We thought the shark had survived, but I think it could have been found this morning.

Locals took to social media to air their theories.

Vix Hales said: ‘I wonder why he was so off course. Perhaps you will find warmer currents. Poor thing.’

Graham Maggs commented: “It seems strange as we don’t seem to have the biggest sharks in the Solent, hounds and perhaps dogfish, but porbeagle, threshers and mako seem to stay off the island.”

Others congratulated the mother on her efforts, saying ‘very sad, thanks for trying to save him’ while one person joked ‘I don’t think I’ll ever swim in Lepe again’.