Live shark fells from the sky
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It wasn't raining cats and dogs at a California golf course on Monday - it was raining sharks.
A live leopard shark was discovered thrashing about on the grass at around 4pm at the San Juan Hills golf club in San Juan Capistrano, which is four miles from the coast.
The sea creature was spotted by a startled golf club marshall near the 12th tee box, where a group of golfers had just been playing.
'Shark falling from the sky, kind of odd,' said Melissa McCormack, director of club operations at San Juan Hills.
Ms McCormack believes the two-foot-long shark may have been scooped out of the ocean by a predatory bird and dropped onto the golf course.
The creature had two puncture wounds near its dorsal fin and was covered in blood when it was found.
The staffer who came upon the shark picked it up, put it in the back of his golf cart and drove it to the clubhouse.
'It was just wriggling around. He needed to get to the ocean right away,' Ms McCormack told The Despatch. 'Honestly, this is the weirdest thing that's happened here.'
She and the marshall, Bryan Stizer, gave the shark a quick dip in a bucket of fresh water and salt, as they weren't sure if the fish would survive if placed in a tank of fresh water.
They then drove the shark out to the nearby ocean.
Still alive, the shark was dropped back into the sea at Baby Beach near Dana Point.
'I thought he was dead,' Mr Stizer told The Dispatch.
'When I dropped him into the water, he just lied (sic) there for a few seconds, but then he did a twist and shot off into the water.'
Leopard sharks, which are light bright in colour with black spots, are a common species in ocean waters around San Juan Capistrano.