What to Do With a Worthless Dead Shark?

Dead shark dumped in Miami street after unsuccessful attempt to peddle it to fish markets for $10.

Jul 22 2009



A City of Miami Crime Scene Investigator photographs a dead shark shark that was discovered in the middle of NW 5th Ave. in Miami late Tuesday evening, July 21, 2009 after two men tried, unsuccessfully to sell it to several fish markets. The men apparently carried the five or six-foot-long fish around on the city's Metromover downtown train, prompting calls to police. Wildlife officials later determined the animal was a nurse shark.

News footage Tuesday night showed the dead animal in the street with police officers and cruisers nearby. Two stations reported that a pair of men had tried to sell the animal to at least three fish markets for around $10.

Rob Orta, an employee at Casablanca Fish Market, told television station WSVN that the men offered his business the shark.

"But we don't buy sharks off the street," Orta told the station. "You don't know where that shark's been or for how long.

Wildlife officials later determined the animal was a nurse shark. The case could result in misdemeanor charges of improper killing and disposal of an animal and selling a shark without a license.

One resident of the area where the shark was dumped said he didn't know what was going on at first.

"It was a relief that it was a shark," said Keith Smith. "When I first saw it, I thought it was a body because of all the shootings that have been going on. Dead sharks we get all the time."