A WOMAN was shocked to come across a “quite large stingray” at Llanfairfechan Beach earlier this week.

The woman, who asked not to be named, said she saw the dead fish while walking her dog with her partner at about 1pm on Sunday (January 7).

“We had to make sure that our dog was safe from the stings on its tale and were quite worried for other people unknowingly jumping into any pools while the tide was rising,” the woman said.

“The tide was very low at this point, so I assumed that it had washed up and unfortunately been stranded.

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“It was quite sad to see the poor creature on the sand, unable to get back to the water.  My first reaction was to get my dog away from the stingray, just in case he caught the tail. 

“Once the dog was fully happy, playing away from it with a ball, I tried to push it along and throw a bit of water on top.

“Unfortunately, the poor thing was dead at this point, but I couldn't say for how long.”

The woman said the incident taught to be “more careful on the beach”, and encouraged others to take more care when finding living creatures washed up on the shore.

She added: “I tried to see if I could move the stingray out to sea, just so that other people wouldn't get hurt, but the poor thing was surprisingly heavy and the skin was quite sharp on your hands. 

“We had to push it further down towards the sea as much as possible, but unfortunately, we had to leave the stingray on the sands.

“To see something so beautiful wash up… I just hoped it had a good life out at sea and hadn't come onto the land and died during low tide. 

“Hopefully people do try to help these creatures and don't leave them on the beach to die. It's always best, in my opinion, to see if we can save these creatures, obviously being as careful as possible not to hurt ourselves.”