When the Australian park Wildlife Wonderland closed down in 2012, they had to get rid of all of their animals, but the preserved body of a great white shark remained.
Places which keep animals closing down or moving to a new location is nothing new, but the logistical challenges involved with finding a new home for all creatures great and small are significant.
Some stay on in the old location until their new habitat is built, while others exist in a sad limbo where their future remains uncertain.
For Rosie the great white shark, she was instead abandoned, though since she'd already been dead for years, it's unlikely she minded much.
Advert
You see, Rosie died in 1997 when she was caught in fishing nets off the Australian coast and couldn't be freed, with the decision being made to humanely put her down.
The shark's body was stored in a freezer for educational purposes, though it did undergo an autopsy after missing person reports made people decide to check whether the shark had eaten them.
Rosie ended up being kept in a tank of formaldehyde for preservation in Wildlife Wonderland, but when the park closed and everything else was moved out, they just left her floating there.
In 2018, YouTuber Lukie Mc decided to explore the abandoned wildlife park and found many things left behind, including Rosie's body still preserved in her tank years later.
The footage of him exploring the derelict park is quite haunting, especially when it comes to the discovery of the shark tank as the sight of that shape looking in the murk is quite a view.
While the footage sparked a wave of renewed interest in Rosie some of it was negative as others broke into the abandoned park and tried to smash her tank, while others threw things into it.
The problems with people breaking in got so bad that the landowner was planning on having the preserved shark destroyed so people didn't have something to break in for.
Fortunately, in 2019 she was acquired by the Crystal World Exhibition Centre and rescued.
In a positive update on Rosie's fate she was restored and put in the car park outside her new owner's place of business, it's not quite a wildlife centre but it's better than being destroyed.
"I’m just a crazy old guy who likes rocks and dead sharks," said Crystal World Exhibition Centre man Tom, who has spent thousands on saving the shark.
“It would be sacrilegious if she had been buried in landfill. Doesn’t everyone want a shark preserved in their backyard?”
Joe Harker