Man who swiped shark says he's 'activist, not a criminal'

[Zorro]

SAN ANTONIO (AP) — The man accused of swiping a shark from a Texas aquarium says he did so because he was concerned about the sea creature’s wellbeing.

Anthony Shannon is charged with felony theft for stealing the horn shark Saturday from the San Antonio Aquarium. The heist, which was captured on surveillance video , shows a man grabbing the 16-inch-long (40-centimeter-long) shark from a petting tank and later wheeling it away in a baby stroller. The shark, named Miss Helen, was recovered Monday night from Shannon’s home.

“I’m an activist, not a criminal,” Shannon told San Antonio TV station KENS in an interview from his home, which has three saltwater tanks filled with dozens of fish and five sharks.

Shannon said he’s a lifelong marine enthusiast and that he became concerned about conditions at the aquarium after a friend told him that marine animals were dying frequently. About a month ago, Shannon posed as a salt distributor so he could investigate conditions and take water samples from the tanks, he said.

https://apnews.com/0b41c541d1294af99bece1482aab90a5

He's an "activist, not a criminal". I think that's what all shark swipers say.

[blogslut]

1. Yuh huh

Dude emptied a bucket of bleach into the facility filtration system so he'd have a container for the shark.

https://www.mysanantonio.com/news/local/article/More-details-emerge-about-shark-theft-as-San-13121537.php

...Police said Shannon, working with a woman and another man, snatched Miss Helen out of her tank, wrapped her in a blanket and pushed her out of the aquarium in a baby carriage. In the process, Salvaggio said, Shannon dumped a bucket of a bleach solution into a water filtration system and used the bucket to help move the shark.

“Our marine husbandry team was able to counter that in time for it to not do any damage to the other exhibits,” said Jenny Spellman, general manager of the aquarium...

[Princess Turandot]

3. C'mon: It's the aquarium's fault, for not labeling it in case some felonious moron decided..

.. to pour it out on other creatures to facilitate his shark-napping!

[drray23]

2. Yeah so he thinks he would be more qualified

To care for a baby shark than a team of experts marine biologists and aquarium employees ? Dumping bleach in the filtration system is also not a great way to show you care for the animals that are in there.

[fescuerescue]

4. Because his house is a sharks natural environment.

[TheBlackAdder]

5. He's one step from those "activists" who drop invasive fish into streams that decimate river life.

[dalton99a]

6. Sounds like he's a lifelong thief and an animal-abusing asshole

[Sneederbunk]

7. He can be both.