I Feel I Need To Save This Shark But How?

snowflake311 · Jul 25, 2009

My local fish shop has a 2 foot nurse shark in a 150 gal tank. The poor thing can barley turn around. It is awful. I'm wondering how could I save thins fish? They want $300 for it. it's been there for almost a year now.

I was thinking of trying to raise money to save it. I would want to bring it to a larger public aquarium let them keep it or get it ready to go back to the wild.

Or could I contact Crazy PETA?

If someone does not save this fish he will die.

What do you think I should do?

The owner of the store is not the brightest lady in the world. If I did manage to get the money for it I would have to tell the lady how I feel about her keeping this shark and that I'm not buying it for me I'm rescuing it. seeing him in that tank makes me want to cry.

mixmaster jay · Jul 25, 2009

i would get in touch with as many public aquariums as possible and see which ones will take it in and come to some arrangement with money like a fund raiser at the aquarium or someting enough to cover the cost of buying it and the cost of moving it just an idea

im on your side on this definetly

england · Jul 25, 2009

Its a very dificult situation, as my lfs also have a huge redtailed catfish in a tank its same size as tank, has been in there about 1.5yrs,now has gill curl...prob is you buy it to rehome it, they will go out and get another one day after...

arobinson1984 · Jul 25, 2009

Couldn't you report it anonamously to the correct authorities for its unsuitable habitat? Surely then they would have to rehome it to a suitable home or the wild and it wouldn't cost anything.

If you dont feel comfortable doing that then mixmaster jays suggestion was a good one, I'm sure you would find some public aquarium willing to save the fish, and some sort of fundraiser will only bring them publicity so for any public aquarium it is a win win situation

Andy

snowflake311 · Jul 25, 2009

nelly said:
Its a very dificult situation, as my lfs also have a huge redtailed catfish in a tank its same size as tank, has been in there about 1.5yrs,now has gill curl...prob is you buy it to rehome it, they will go out and get another one day after...

I know that is what I was thinking if some one buys the fish then they will think oh lets get another. BUT If I tell them I am only buying this fish to safe it from dyeing please do not buy another one. It's awful. Why are people so stupid. They must think oh it's just a fish. grrr.

I think I will look into contacting some aquariums.

zuulan · Jul 25, 2009

arobinson1984 said:
Couldn't you report it anonamously to the correct authorities for its unsuitable habitat? Surely then they would have to rehome it to a suitable home or the wild and it wouldn't cost anything.
Andy

I tried this after seeing some terrible conditions at Pier Aquatics in Wigan.

The council went to check it out and they thought it was fine. I've since spoke to a friend who works in LFS and she says the authorities are clueless about the well-being of fish.

After speaking to the Wigan council woman who checked it out, I have to agree. She reported as bettas' breathe thru the surface they are ok to live in a plastic cup! Yea, but I breathe thru the air and can survive in a coffin, but if someone made me live in a coffin I wouldn't exactly be happy about it. Apparently the LFS told her these fish naturally live in small pools of water, so they are happy to live in cups.

I gave up speaking to her in the end. Basically livestock can be treated any way the sellers like.

arobinson1984 · Jul 25, 2009

I'd hope the authorities in USA would be more vigilant. Everything seems to be bigger and better there :lol:

I've been to florida twice and loved it :good:

Andy

Bignose · Jul 25, 2009

nelly said:
Its a very dificult situation, as my lfs also have a huge redtailed catfish in a tank its same size as tank, has been in there about 1.5yrs,now has gill curl...prob is you buy it to rehome it, they will go out and get another one day after...

the bolded part is why you can never "rescue" an animal. As soon as you pay for it, you tell the sellers that there is a market for animals kept in that condition. I agree that the situations can really tug on the heart strings, but buying them is almost always the worst thing you can do. If you let it sit there, the owners will eventually realize it is not going to sell and it is not worth keeping the animal for the money it costs. And that is how you prevent it from happening again. Sellers who will allow such conditions are only motivated by one thing: profit. And if the animal actually costs them money, then they won't repeat it.