A popular central California beach has been closed due to concern over shark attacks. Access to Lovers Point Beach in Monterey County was closed after a dead whale was found floating near the shore.
As CBS News reports, Pacific Grove Police Department officers were notified of the whale around 12:55 p.m. Wednesday. “Marine mammal carcasses can attract sharks, particularly larger predatory species, which is the primary concern prompting this precautionary measure,” the department explained in a statement.
The threat of a shark attack is of particular concern at Lover’s Point, which was the site of a deadly encounter last year. On Sunday, December 21, Erica Fox went missing while participating in a weekly swim with the Kelp Krawlers, a Monterey Bay open-water swimming group she co-founded. Witnesses on shore reported seeing a large splash and one onlooker claimed to have seen a shark breach the water with a human body in its mouth. A week later, her body was found on a remote pocket just beyond the northern tip of Monterey Bay, with a “shark band” she had been wearing at the time of the attack still attached to her ankle.
