Great white shark found washed up on Massachusetts beach

A great white shark named Koala, measuring more than 12ft, washed up on the shore of Cape Cod, Massachusetts, on Wednesday.

According to the Atlantic White Shark Conservancy charity, the shark was first identified by the group in 2022, and the cause of death was unknown.

The Orleans police department posted photos of Koala on Nauset Beach, and called a tow truck to remove it.

“Not one of our typical calls for service. Nor is it one for our local duty tow, Nauset Recovery. But, as always, we answered the call,” the department wrote in a Facebook post.

Cape Cod is a popular summer tourist destination and an important feeding ground for great white sharks.

Greg Skomal, a marine scientist who has studied sharks off the coast of New England since the 1980s, told Scientific American in 2023 that he did not encounter a great white shark near Cape Cod until 2004, and did not tag his first one until 2009.

There have only been three recorded human injury incidents involving great white sharks in Cape Cod since 2012, the most recent when a shark killed someone in 2018.

“There are no obvious signs of how or why Koala died. Further testing will have to be done to find a cause of death,” the AWSC said in a statement. A necropsy has been performed and tissue samples taken to be analyzed.