LEE COUNTY, Fla. -- A conservation group is blaming fishermen for killing a hammerhead shark they caught this weekend, even though they threw the shark back into the water off Fort Myers Beach. 
 
 Animal activist group "Sharks After Dark" says the fishermen waited too long to release the shark back into the water. They posed for pictures instead, and the delay stressed the shark out, causing its death. 
 
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 "I would probably want to get my picture with it too," says one beachgoer Wednesday. "To at least show my friends and family that I caught a hammerhead." 
 
 But seasoned anglers and conservationists say this is not a trophy fish -- it's torture. 
 
 "The way they went about it was 100 percent wrong. I mean, you don't pull a hammerhead all the way up onto the beach, you don't let it dry out, and you definitely don't sit on top of it and take photos," says Melinda Colon with Sharks After Dark. 
 
 She believes the fishermen contributed to the hammerhead's death Sunday morning, instead of immediately releasing it into the water, which is required by law. 
 
 The shark was later found dead along the beach Monday morning. 
 
 "The public works guys picked it up, hauled it off in a golf cart, took it to town hall's dumpster, and threw it in the dumpster," says Colon. 
 
 She says she's outraged city officials didn't call Fish and Wildlife instead. 
 
 "There could have been a million other reasons why that shark died. It could have gotten sick. I could have been anything," said Colon. 
 
 That's why some people say we shouldn't rush to judgment deciding the fate of the woman and others in the pictures with the shark. 
 
 "If there's not the evidence to prove that she caused its death, then I wouldn't say she should be in trouble for it at all," says the beach goer. 
 
 FWC said Wednesday they are investigating, but cannot say if charges will be filed at this time. 

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 How a hammerhead shark was handled by a woman who caught it while fishing on Fort Myers Beach has stirred up some controversy. After its capture in the wee hours of Sunday morning, she pulled it onto shore and took pictures with it - including some showing people straddling the shark. The photos were posted on social media. 
 
 Despite eventually being released back into the gulf, the shark was found dead a few hours later by town employees after it washed ashore. Hammerheads struggle to survive trauma, especially when being deprived of water. Is this how it died? 
 
 No one will ever know, said Gary Morse of the state's Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC), because the town disposed of the shark. 
 
 Article Photos This hammerhead shark was caught on Fort Myers Beach early Sunday and died after being released back into the Gulf of Mexico. Here it is later that day in possession of the town's public works employees before being sent to the landfill. 
 
 It was kept on a hook in the town's possession for about "two-thirds of the day" on Sunday, said public works director Scott Baker, before it was tossed into a dumpster. Its contents went off to the landfill Monday morning. 
 
 As a result, there will be no investigation, Morse said, despite the fact his agency has received several complaints about the incident. 
 
 "We got requests for one, but that requires evidence of the shark," he said of a potential inquiry. "But it was destroyed." 
 
 Starting in 2012, it's been illegal in Florida to bring onto land a hammerhead shark, which is a protected species. 
 
 Does Morse feel the town dropped the ball by tossing the shark? And is it obligated to call the FWC? 
 
 "No, there's no obligation there," he said. "The town did what it did and that's not an issue for us. And that's the end of it." 
 
 Morse said the woman who caught the shark was among those who called him, explaining her actions. 
 
 "She was in tears and very upset," Morse said. 
 
 That is because she is under criticism for pulling the shark completely out of the water for an extended period of time. 
 
 Her actions raised the ire of a central Florida fishing organization called Sharks After Dark, which includes aquatic conservation as part of its mission. On its website, it stated in regard to the incident: "Bottom line is this - if you are an experienced fishermen, you should be able to get the hook out, photos taken, and the fish back in the water within minutes. Sitting a shark all the way on the beach while you get a dozen photos is just stupid and careless. We do know that this shark died as a result of improper and unsuccessful catch-and-release, not of injury or illness." 
 
 The shark's condition may support that theory. 
 
 "There were no lacerations or other wounds on the shark except for a hole inside the mouth, which is speculated to be a hook entry wound," said Rae Blake, the town's environmental technician. 
 
 Baker said the town calls the FWC with such a finding "99 percent of the time, if it's a dolphin or shark of decent size." 
 
 It did so back in March when a dolphin washed ashore. 
 
 Regarding Sunday's find, "I think a call to FWC was made, but I'm not positive," Baker said. "With it being a Sunday, sometimes they don't have the people on call to come get it. At times, especially Monday through Friday, they'll be here immediately and other times they're not interested. In some of those cases we've donated it to the local college for their studies. 
 
 "In this situation, I just think the timing was bad." 
 
 Baker added he was not aware of the details behind how the shark may have died, nor that an investigation may have been a possibility. 

 A hammerhead shark was found dead on a Florida beach on Monday and a conservation group is blaming fishermen for its death, saying they waited to long to release it, according to WPTV. 
 
 Photos show the hammerhead on the sand as fishermen straddle it to pose for photos at Fort Myers Beach. The shark was released back into the water, as is required by law, but animal activist group Sharks After Dark says it never should have been dragged all the way to the shore in the first place. 
 
 The group believes the stress from the capture contributed to the shark's death, but at this point it's impossible to say why the shark died. 
 
 A study out of the University of Miami in 2014 found that when compared to other species of sharks, hammerheads are the most susceptible to death as a result of being caught and released. 
 
 Researchers said hammerheads are the most sensitive to the lactic acid build up that occurs in their body when they struggle while on the line. That build up coupled with the associated stress can lead them to death. 
 
 Sharks After Dark says that instead of contacting Florida Fish and Wildlife, city officials just hauled the hammerhead off the beach and disposed of it in a dumpster. 
 
 FWC has been aware of the incident and is now investigating. 
 
 Click here to read more on this story at WPTV.com. 

 FORT MYERS, Fla. - The woman behind a controversial hammerhead shark catch on Fort Myers Beach is speaking out about the incident, after coming under attack by animal activists. 
 
 The group Sharks After Dark blasted Lauren Dondero of Fort Myers after they said she kept the shark out of the water too long before releasing it. The shark later died and washed ashore . 
 
 Dondero said that a Mother's Day fishing trip with her son got exciting when she hooked something she'd never had on her line before. 
 
 "When I picked up the reel, I realized it was a big fish," said Dondero, who describes fishing as a passion. "It was the most exciting feeling in the world seeing a hammerhead." 
 
 The shark put up quite a fight, and led her far down the beach, away from her gear. When she finally got it ashore, she posed for photos with the hammerhead. Dondero said it was probably out of the water for about ten minutes. 
 
 "We walked that shark back into the water and nursed her back in, and she swam off," she said. 
 
 But when the animal activist group Sharks After Dark found out that the hammerhead had later washed ashore dead, they blasted Dondero on Facebook, and to Fox 4 . 
 
 "You don't pull a hammerhead all the way up onto the beach," said Melinda Colon with Sharks After Dark. "You don't let it dry out and you definitely don't sit on top of it to take photos." 
 
 Dondero said that after she heard the shark had died, she felt awful, but contacted Florida Fish and Wildlife officials to explain what happened: she wasn't able to get to her hook-removing tools quickly enough, since she was led so far down the beach during the hour and a half it took her to reel the shark in. 
 
 "I called FWC immediately and let them know that I'm the one that caught it, and I was really upset about it," Dondero said. "I was crying for that shark." 
 
 She said that other anglers have reached out to her for tips on how to keep hook-releasing tools like channel-locks easier to access when a big fish takes her far down the beach. 
 
 Yes, I made a mistake, and I apologize," Dondero said. "Now I know what to do next that will improve my fishing." 
 
 An FWC spokesman said that there will be no investigation into the incident.
– A Florida conservation group says a woman's desire to pose for photos with a hammerhead shark effectively sentenced the protected animal to death last Sunday. WFTX reports Lauren Dondero was on a Mother's Day fishing trip to Fort Myers Beach when she caught a hammerhead shark. After an hour and a half of reeling, Dondero says she brought the shark onto the beach and posed for photos with it for about 10 minutes before returning it to the ocean. "It was the most exciting feeling in the world seeing a hammerhead," she says. The shark was found dead on the beach hours later, according to WPTV. The news of the shark's death combined with photos of Dondero posing with the shark on social media attracted the attention of conservation group Sharks After Dark. "You don't pull a hammerhead all the way up onto the beach, you don't let it dry out, and you definitely don't sit on top of it and take photos," an activist with the group tells WPTV. A 2014 study showed hammerheads are the most likely sharks to die from being caught and released, the Orlando Sentinel reports. Lactic acid builds up in their bodies while they struggle to get free and combines with stress to kill them. A local environmental technician says that could be what happened with this hammerhead, according to Fort Myers Beach Talk. Despite a law against bringing hammerheads onto the beach, Dondero, who reported herself after hearing of the shark's death, won't be punished. "I made a mistake, and I apologize," she tells WFTX. "I was crying for that shark." (Similar sad stories involved peacocks and a baby dolphin.)