A mako shark discovered stranded on a Christchurch beach last night has died.

As first reported by chrislynchmedia.com, police were called to Sumner Beach just after 8:30 AM following reports of a live shark stranded in shallow waters. Officers responded for public safety reasons, as moving the shark was considered too dangerous.

The shark measured just under two metres.

Police at the scene said the Department of Conservation was expected to arrive on Friday morning.

When chrislynchmedia.com contact DOC on Thursday night, a spokesperson said they were unaware of the incident.

However in a statement sent to chrislynchmedia.com at 11.45AM on Friday, DOC Operations Manager Andy Thompson said “We were called about a shark stranded on Sumner Beach about 9pm on Thursday night.

“Mako sharks are not a protected species so DOC does not manage their population and is not mandated to respond to incidents like this.

The stranding is a sad but natural event. We’ve been liaising with city council coastal rangers and local iwi who have responded.”

Christchurch resident Raiona Ahau went to the beach and told chrislynchmedia.com the shark died overnight.

“There were about nine people at the scene helping,” he said. “My faith was restored in humanity when I saw rangatahi there with shovels.”

Ahau said he had phoned the Department of Conservation to inform them of the latest developments and was expecting to hear back this morning.