The municipality issued a fake news alert on the shark incident. The eThekwini Municipality has said a social media post about a shark washing up on a Durban beach is fake. Picture: eThekwini Municipality Facebook page.
Durban - eThekwini Municipality has dismissed a post circulating on social media platforms claiming that a shark washed up on a Durban beach on Tuesday as fake news.
Several posts with pictures of a shark on a beach are being shared claiming to have been taken at Ushaka Beach on Tuesday, however, the pictures are believed to be from another country.
In a statement on the City’s Facebook page on Tuesday night, the municipality shared one of the posts in a fake news alert.
“The public is advised that a post claiming that a shark has washed up on a Durban beach is nothing but fake news. No such incident has occurred at any of eThekwini’s beaches,” advised the municipality.
Earlier this month, The Mercury’s sister publication, the Cape Argus, reported that a juvenile thresher shark carcass washed up on Sunset Beach in Cape Town.
According to the report, local wildlife photographer Alex Aitkenhead came across the carcass.
“It’s not often we get to see this remarkable shark, this is a thresher shark, using its long tail to stun its prey and then consume it. I’m not sure why this juvenile washed up on our shores at Sunset Beach,” the photographer said.