Posted on 06/23/2005 10:49:05 AM PDT by nickcarraway
A great white shark mistakenly captured by fishermen died shortly after the Monterey Bay Aquarium transported it to an ocean holding pen.
The 5-foot, 60-pound shark was caught eight days ago off Huntington Beach before a 4 million gallon holding pen had been moved from storage in Mexico and set up in ocean waters off Malibu. Aquarium officials initially moved the female shark to a much smaller holding pool in San Pedro until the larger pen was ready.
The shark was finally moved to the ocean pen on Friday. It was found dead on Sunday.
"It seemed like a reasonable thing to do," said aquarium spokesman Ken Peterson. "Our husbandry staff had some comfort level." But he acknowledged that "something in transit took longer than it should have."
Researchers had not yet decided whether to tag and release the animal or move her north to the aquarium display. Another white shark that had been held for a record 198 days, drawing record visitors, was released back into the wild in March after growing too large and too aggressive.
The cause of death was under investigation. The animal had not eaten since her capture, but it was not clear whether that was caused by an injury, stress from her capture or an unknown medical condition. The results from a necropsy were not immediately available.
"The best indication is she just kind of ran out of gas from not having eaten," Peterson said.
The shark also had injured an eye, though it's not clear when or how that occurred.
"We didn't feel comfortable releasing it into the wild," Peterson said.
The death is not expected to affect the shark research program, though it does fuel debate over whether the aquarium should be trying to keep white sharks in captivity.
(Excerpt) Read more at sfgate.com ...
Did they put the great white in that big open ocean tank? With the big tuna and other pelagic fish? Did he start to eat his neighbors?
Exactly.
Who paid for all this? You and Me?
Now that would have been cool. Seeing whitey take a bite out of a big sunfish or 300 lbs tuna.
Hmmm...did someone 'jump the shark' perhaps?
I DEMAND THAT THE TORTURE AT MONTEREY BAY AQUARIUM STOP IMMEDIATELY! SHUT IT DOWN, MR. PRESIDENT.
/lib mode
You and I - probably. You and me - not!
Was it under the 'care' of PETA?
I paid for part of it, as a Monterey Bay Aquarium member...
I don't know or care really, but the description of the whole operation seems haphazard at best.
Reading through again, Peterson says:
"seemed like a reasonable thing to do"
"our husbandry staff had some comfort level"
"something took longer than it should have"
"she just kind of ran out of gas"?
Come on. Those are mealy-mouth words. The save-the-worlders effed up. They should just admit it.
One less, thank God.
Yeah! Way kewl! When Bambi attacks...
I think she only did it at night - as any shark will tell you ya don't want witnesses...
I think they know they effed up. I'm not sure what you want from them, normally these things would have been killed outright. They tried to set up a shark exhibit on short notice and it didn't work.
With that in mind, I think they should all be held in captivity.
I went to the Monterey Aquarium two summers ago with my girlfriend who was living in San Fran for the summer. She could not understand why I did not want to see the sights in San Fran and why I wanted to see some fish and a huge glass wall down in Monterey. She ended up enjoying the experience and I got her some Jelly-bellies on Cannery Row, so she was happy.
Drive down scenic Castro Street.
It's like touring a sewer in a glass bottomed boat...
We did the drive through town following the scenic route and it included the Castro. But I refused to get out of the car until we were back at her place. It is a pretty town overall, if you don't have to talk to anyone. I actually did get out of the car at the twin peaks to take some pictures. The fog rolled in while we were up there and it was really cool. Sunny one minute and the next you could hardly see the top of the Golden Gate. We also went to Napa, Santa Cruz, and Half Moon Bay. All of which I enjoyed greatly.
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