Severed Head of Young Great White Shark Found on Dock

UPDATE May 11, 2016, 5:08 p.m.: Employees and others around the shipyard have identified the men involved and that information has been handed over to California Department of Fish and Wildlife wardens. 

The severed head of a great white shark was found on a Newport Beach dock Saturday afternoon, sparking social media outrage.

Two 16-year-olds, Madi Makoff and Clay Kirksey, took to social media after Kirksey found the hacked up animal. He said he saw "dripping blood all over the place."

"I thought it was fake at first, but then I saw the streaming blood," Kirksey said. 

The teen said he saw men, about 30-40 years old, on a boat approaching the dock on the Lido Peninsula near 151 Shipyard Way. 

Kirksey said the men took the shark head, snapped photos with it, and then left the remains sitting on the dock.

"They were throwing it around, hitting it, biting it," Kirksey said.

That's when Kirksey turned to his Huntington Beach High School classmate Makoff to figure out how to find those responsible.

"Just to have people go and cluelessly [sic] kill them is really sad," Makoff said.

The two posted the photos online, hoping to make them go viral.

California State University Long Beach shark expert Chris Lowe told NBC4 that it's illegal for fisherman to knowingly kill a great white shark.

Starting in 2013, great white sharks were protected under the California Endangered Species Act.

"It’s really sad to see a young white shark being killed like that," Lowe said.

It wasn't immediately clear if any agencies were investigating the incident, but the California Department of Fish and Wildlife was aware and would provide more information on Wednesday. 

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