Shell seekers find bones on Stuart Beach on Hutchinson Island Monday evening

MARTIN COUNTY — Two young people looking for shells on Stuart Beach, instead came across some bones.

Paul Higginbotham said he and his family are visiting from West Virginia, and one of his daughters came across the bones as she and her sister were scanning the beach Monday evening for interesting seashells.

She thought the bones were human, so she didn't touch or move them, he said.

"We didn't want to leave them unattended," Higginbotham said Tuesday. "Because you just never know."

He called the Martin County Sheriff's Office and a deputy responded at 7:12 p.m. to the beach, just east of 1105 Northeast Doubloon Drive.

"The main bones located appeared eerily similar to that of a human leg," according to an incident report from the Martin County Sheriff's Office.

The responding deputy took photos of the bones, and they were sent to the medical examiner who determined they were from an animal, the report says.

"That's what we were wondering," Higginbotham said. "That just makes us feel better."

The medical examiner did not say what kind of animal bones they are, sheriff's spokesperson Laurie Weber said.

Keith Burbank is TCPalm's watchdog reporter covering Martin County. He can be reached at keith.burbank@tcpalm.com or at 720-288-6882 .

This article originally appeared on Treasure Coast Newspapers: Shell seekers find bones on Stuart Beach on Hutchinson Island Monday evening