SAN ANTONIO, TX — There are some alleged crimes that foster a new level of head-bobbing disbelief. This is one of them. Three people are accused of stealing a young gray horn shark from an aquarium in San Antonio, then trying to pass it off as a baby.
Security footage shows part of the poorly executed crime going down Saturday, which happened to be one of the final days of programming for the Discovery Channel’s “Shark Week” — an interesting, but perhaps not relevant, coincidence. Police are still trying to sort the whole thing out.
What is known is that two men and a woman walked into the San Antonio Aquarium around 2:15 p.m. Saturday with a baby stroller and walked to an area with an open pool where visitors can pet the sea creatures. One of them snatched the 16-inch shark by its tail and two others wrapped it in a wet blanket, disappeared into another area of the aquarium and dumped it in a bucket, then smuggled it out in a baby stroller, police said.
In a statement, the aquarium said the suspects staked out the pool exhibit for more than an hour waiting for the opportunity to take the shark, and poured a bucket of bleach solution used to disinfect tools into the exhibit’s filtration system, “causing harm to other wildlife.”
The aquarium said that Jamie Shank, its assistant husbandry director, told investigators she suspects the man who stole our shark visited the aquarium about a month ago and posed as an employee of Instant Ocean, which supplies salt.
“He offered to do salt and water testing on all of our exhibits,” the statement said. “The man told us that the company he worked for, Instant Ocean, had sent out bad batches of salt so it was necessary to test our water.
“Our staff informed him that we haven’t had any issues with our systems chemical levels, but allowed him to come in any way to be safe. So he spent hours with Jamie on a Monday about a month ago collecting samples from our tanks to take tests. We believe that the root of his plan was to get a behind the scenes look so he could figure out what to steal and the best way to do it.”
In the incident Saturday, an employee noticed the strange goings-on and alerted management. Staff members confronted the trio in the parking lot. One of the alleged shark-nabbers peeled out after refusing to allow anyone to search his pickup truck, saying that his son was ill and he needed to leave immediately, according to news reports.
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“It’s insane that they had the guts to do this,” aquarium owner Ammo Covino told BuzzFeed News.
Police later arrested the 38-year-old man, who confessed to stealing the shark, Leon Valley Police Chief Joseph Salvaggio said at a news conference Monday.
The man, who wasn’t identified, faces a charge of theft between $750 and $2,500, Salvaggio said. Two others are expected to be charged, according to the report in the San Antonio Express News.
Because it was “Shark Week,” police initially thought the whole thing was a hoax, Salvaggio said.
“But it turns out someone actually went inside the aquarium there in Leon Valley and stole a horn shark,” he said, according to a report by television station KSAT.
Police traced the shark to the home of the 38-year-old man, who gave them permission to search. According to Salvaggio, he said he had a gray horn shark, but it had died.
“More than likely, it was something he wanted,” Salvaggio said.
When police searched the man’s home Monday, they found the shark — Helen, a female less than a year old — was being well cared for, according to a report by television station KXAS.
“He took us right to where the shark was and pointed (her) out,” Salvaggio said at the news conference. “Initially, they were going to show us an old receipt for this type of shark, but it was obviously doctored and the gig was up.”
There were so many marine animals in the man’s home that it looked like a mock-up of the San Antonio Aquarium, Salvaggio said.
“There were different marine animals. (He) very much knew what he was doing and kept that animal alive, and was able to continue seeing that animal thrive, which was pretty shocking,” the police chief said.
“It’s very obvious the person knows what he’s looking for and went there specifically for that area,” Salvaggio said of the surveillance video. “We got a good look at the person — or persons involved. There’s three people involved.”
Aquarium workers were worried Helen might not survive because she was transported in a bucket that contained a bleach solution, but she appears to be doing well. She will remain under observation for several days to make sure she didn’t catch something during her time away from the aquarium.
The trio could face federal charges because they didn’t have the necessary permit to transport the species, Salvaggio said, adding, “We have a lot to do, but we’re happy tonight to get the shark back home.”
Gray horn sharks are abundant off the coast of southern California and aren’t threatened with extinction, according to the IUCN Red List, which says they have “no commercial value.”
They’re small bottom dwellers with little horns on their heads, “so if you were to step on them you would get gouged,” aquarium owner Covino told BuzzFeed. He said humans who interfere with them “absolutely” could be bitten.
Photo by Ammon Covino / San Antonio Aquarium, used with permission