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Shark Stolen From Aquarium In A Pram Disguised As A Baby

Shark Stolen From Aquarium In A Pram Disguised As A Baby

There's something distinctly fishy about this...

Tom Wood

Tom Wood

Sometimes, a crime takes place that captures the imagination of the whole world. It could be a huge heist, or an art forgery - sometimes they're just too fascinating. Bear that in mind as you learn about the three people who stole a shark from an aquarium and disguised it as a baby in a pram as they made their escape.

Yes, this actually happened.

This absurd succession of events took place at an aquarium in San Antonio, Texas, on Saturday afternoon.

The horn shark, which is about two or three feet long, is called Miss Helen, and was taken to a property where one of the men arrested keeps a whole load of other marine life.

CCTV footage from the San Antonio Aquarium shows two men and a woman sneaking about the aquarium in the middle of the day, before picking the grey shark out of the petting tank, wrapping it in a blanket, sticking it into a baby's pram, and then making off with it.

Once outside, they loaded the shark into a pick-up truck and drove straight off. You couldn't make it up.

Wikimedia Commons

As you can probably imagine, however, 'make it up' is exactly what the police thought somebody had done.

Leon Valley Police Chief, Joseph Salvaggio, said: "When we first got the call, we thought it was kind of a hoax being that it was Shark Week last week,.

"But it turns out someone actually went inside the aquarium there in Leon Valley and stole a horn shark."

It then turned out that one of the staff at the aquarium had seen the theft, and the search began to get the fish back into its tank. Horn sharks can survive for a while out of water, but obviously being in a pram wrapped in a blanket is not particularly good for it.

The cops eventually managed to track down the alleged culprits at a house that had a large sized aquarium of its own inside.

Salvaggio continued: "When we got into the garage and into the house it looked like almost a mock-up of [the San Antonio Aquarium]."

"[The suspect] knew very much what he was doing and kept that animal alive."

News 4 San Antonio

A man was arrested and is now in custody, his two accomplices are wanted for questioning.

As for Miss Helen, she was returned to the aquarium and is recovering from her ordeal in a quarantine before hopefully being reintroduced to her previous home.

The aquarium said: "Sharknapping: Unsuccessful! Welcome home Miss Helen!"

All's well that ends well, I guess.

Featured Image Credit: News 4 San Antonio

Topics: US News, Weird, Animals, shark