Dead shark found hanging from rafters outside school in US

A group of five high school students gutted a shark and hung it on the rafters of the school courtyard in the US.

Representational image (Reuters)

New Delhi: In a horrifying sight for Ponte Vedra High School in Jacksonville, United States, a dead shark was found on Thursday morning hanging from the rafters outside. 

According to New York Post, officials said some students hung the dead shark on Wednesday night after gutting and freezing it. 

“A group of five high school students at Ponte Vedra High School hung a gutted shark on the rafters of the school courtyard,” Alex AuBuchon, spokesperson for the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWCC), was quoted as saying by Miami Herald.

Newsweek reported that one of the students claimed it was a prank by senior students. 

The FWCC added that the shark was caught on Tuesday night and stored in the freezer before being hanged. The fish carcass was removed by the school staff at 8 am on Thursday. According to Jim Gelsleichter, associate professor of biology and director of the Coastal and Marine Biology Flagship Program at the University of North Florida, it was a sandbar shark, First Coast News reported. 

“That is a prohibitive species in Florida, and so we are not able to land those particular species and that's really because the sandbar, their populations have been pretty depleted over the past several decades from over fishing," he told First Coast News.

The St. John’s County School District is investigating the matter.