Shark Discovered On Shore of Land-locked Idaho - But How'd it Get There?

If you've headed out to one of America's many coastal beaches at some point this summer, you've probably at least had the brief thought that you should be mindful of sharks, because, after all, sharks by and large tend to hang out in the ocean. But you probably wouldn't expect to find the legendary ocean predators if you were exploring, say, a landlocked river in the middle of the United States. Right?

But that's exactly what happened to at least a few people in Idaho earlier this month, when they went out to the banks of the state's Salmon River and found not the expected local wildlife, but what looked like the intact corpse of a shark. That's right, people just going about their business in the middle of Idaho stumbled upon a shark corpse on a riverbank, and we're betting more than a few of them started checking the skies to see if a Sharknado had just blown through. 

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Naturally, the Idaho Department of Fish and Game was soon flooded with calls from people concerned about the discovery. The agency investigated and found that the creature was indeed the body of a Salmon Shark, creatures normally found in the northern Pacific Ocean. But, as their name implies, Salmon Sharks do tend to enjoy feeding on salmon, and there are definitely salmon in Idaho's Salmon River. So... did one of these critters somehow swim its way into the middle of the country for a feast?

According to the Department of Fish and Game, it's very unlikely. 

"Well... seeing no sharks have been observed swimming up our fish ladders lately, and the only known shark that can live in freshwater is the Bull Shark, I think it is safe to assume that somebody dropped this on the shore for a good laugh," Fish and Game agent Joe DuPont wrote on the agency's website. "I certainly have laughed about it. This would have been a great April’s Fools Joke."

So there you have it. The prevailing hypothesis is that someone got their hands on a Salmon Shark, hauled it out to Idaho, and dropped it on a riverbank for fun. The Department of Fish and Game promised "no sharks swimming around in Idaho" despite the discovery, but as any Sharknado fan knows... sharks don't always have to swim to get where they're going.

Looking for more wild shark tales? Stream the documentary Sharknado: Feeding Frenzy on Peacock now.