Daring seagull eats live baby shark

Usually a stroll along the beach of Ocean City, NJ is a peaceful non eventful one for Rebecca and Scott Stout. But this day was anything but, and luckily Rebecca had her phone on her and was quick to whip it out and capture what appeared to be the impossible.

Seagulls of all sorts are part of the Jersey shore experience and most enjoy the sight and sound if them. However, they have become quite a nuisance in recent years on the boardwalks. The gulls have become out of control with aggressive behavior on the boards as well as the beach. So much so that NJ has hired East Coast Falcons to help with the problem.

That's right, NJ is battling birds with ... birds.  Falcons, hawks and an owl are being flown up and down the area to deter what locals consider pests. " It has really been working", Stout says. "These gulls have been seen to snatch food out of babies hands right from the strollers. I adore the animals, but it really has become quite an issue".

Back to the beach and the Stout's quiet little stroll. They were enjoying the sound of the waves, the late afternoon breeze, and were watching tiny sand pipers darting back and forth between waves when in the distance something caught the their eyes. A large herron gull ran out of the water with a fish in it's mouth. "I was so excited. It was a neat thing to see a gull hunt for its natural food and not feast on boardwalk scraps. So I whipped my phone out to film him. But then my husband shouted it was a shark!"  The very idea seemed impossible.  But when Rebecca zoomed in on the bird, sure enough the bird was wrestling a thrashing baby shark up onto the shore.

The scene was both shocking and exhilarating.  It seemed like the thrashing shark was too much for the gull to handle, but he wasn't ready to give up yet. Scott tried to run up on the gull to save the shark but his wife stopped him. Rebecca says, "I really thought he might leave it anyway and I was fascinated and couldn't stop watching or filming this crazy sea gull." 

Anyone who has lived among the large seagulls in Ocean City can tell you how fast and stubborn they are. "Heck I've seen one snatch a large piece pizza right out of a ladies hand and fly off with it. They can be determined," she said. "So I was pretty sure if my husband tried to chase the gull away, the bird would just scoop it up and fly away with it whether he was going to be able to eat it or not. In that case it would die for sure."  Scott disagrees and felt bad for the baby. He wanted to try to save and release it.  

Then the unimaginable happened. Other gulls spotted the prize and as they tried to swoop in the gull picked up the live thrashing shark and swallowed it whole right in front of their eyes!!! Due to it's size the tip of the sharks tail was still sticking out of its mouth when it flew away leaving the Stouts stunned by what they saw and with a blurry but remarkable video.