Half-a-dozen leopard shark pups found dead near Southern California beach

(NBC, KYMA) - Experts are trying to figure out how half-a-dozen dead leopard shark pups ended up on the path of Black's Beach in Torrey Pines, north of San Diego.

A hiker found them in several different places along the trail.

The sounds, the sunsets, the cliffs, and the ocean, there is a lot to love along the shores of Torrey Pines. What Emily dean discovered on the foot trail next to the Glider Port, however, turned her stomach.

"It just really, really broke my heart," Dean expressed.

Last Sunday, while Dean and some friends were hiking down to Black's Beach, she photographed a half-dozen dead leopard sharks. They were covered in sand but the ground around them was wet.

Dean's repulsion took her directly to foul play or worse.

"No puncture wounds...fully intact...just clearly laid there to suffocate and dry out in the sun," Dean shared.

There was no one around to tell Dean what happened or why, but there were some clues.

The sharks were well past high tide, so how did they get there? They were juveniles less than a foot long, maybe even newborns. They were not in one area but a couple of areas along the trail.

NBC affiliate KNSD took the clues, the story and the photographs to an expert who came up with a remarkable theory.

"Somebody caught a pregnant female and was carrying her up the hill, and as they were doing that, she was aborting the pups," said Dr. Chris Lowe, professor at CSU-Long Beach.

Which might explain a lot about where they were found, why they were covered in sand and the wet ground underneath. It might also explain a lot of things we may not know about leopard sharks.

Dr. Lowe says leopard sharks reproduce by live birth. In Southern California, pregnant mothers collect in shallow warm water.

Lowe says under threat or stress, the mothers will expel their offspring.

"That is a common thing that happens and sometimes if that happens in the wild some of those babies would survive," Lowe remarked.

They are sometimes angled for food. Lowe says especially in Mexico.

"Probably a fisherman caught it and thought there is a lot of good meat there. The question is was it caught in a protected area? Which would make it illegal," Lowe declared.

Dean says she reported the disturbing discovery to the California Fish and Wildlife Department. She even called the police on the non-emergency line.

"It just feels like we should have more people down there protecting the wildlife," Dean spoke.

Who is responsible for those leopard shark pups? Someone or nature's instinct? Both can be cruel.

As for the leopard shark population, Lowe says they were once over-fished, but they're not endangered now.

He says since the mid 90's, better fishery management has helped protect them.