Sharks decapitated, ray mutilated at national seashore, TX officials say. One cited

Wildlife officials have completed their investigation into an August incident in which numerous ocean species were found mutilated on a coastal beach , Texas authorities said.

One individual has been cited for “waste of fish,” after National Park Service rangers and staff documented in early August “a decapitated tiger shark and bull shark, a deceased and mutilated sting ray, and approximately 15 mostly intact deceased crabs,” according to a Sept. 10 news release from Padre Island National Seashore.

While it is legal to “fish for and harvest” sharks in Texas, it is illegal to take them from public waters without the intent to keep them for consumption or bait, wildlife officials said.

Authorities with the NPS and Texas Parks and Wildlife Department identified a suspect who they said “confessed to decapitating the sharks, harvesting some meat, and leaving the shark bodies on the beach to be scavenged and rot,” per the release.

Game wardens issued the individual multiple “waste of fish” citations, authorities said.

The Texas Parks and Wildlife Department is seeking restitution for the monetary value of the sharks, authorities said.

Anyone who witnesses a wildlife crime in Texas is asked to call the TPWD Operation Game Thief hotline at 1-800-792-GAME (4263).

Padre Island National Seashore is about a 240-mile drive south from Houston.

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