Hi David, actually that isn't a stupid question. When it was first designed, it was going to be an abandoned shrimp boat. We heard there were hundreds along the gulf and you could just go and take them. We designed a bull shark exhibit on the inside and then went to look for the boats. What we found was boat in various stages of decay, and the real problem was the weight of the waterlogged boats. We could not transport them on the roads due to the weights.
That then got the zoo to do a fake boat, which I thought turned out far too comical for my liking. Also the bull shark idea when down the tubes due to the cost of the tank as well as our concerns about not having a staff member who had worked with sharks before.
Hi David, actually that isn't a stupid question. When it was first designed, it was going to be an abandoned shrimp boat. We heard there were hundreds along the gulf and you could just go and take them. We designed a bull shark exhibit on the inside and then went to look for the boats. What we found was boat in various stages of decay, and the real problem was the weight of the waterlogged boats. We could not transport them on the roads due to the weights.
That then got the zoo to do a fake boat, which I thought turned out far too comical for my liking. Also the bull shark idea when down the tubes due to the cost of the tank as well as our concerns about not having a staff member who had worked with sharks before.
Thanks for your answer Dave. That is a very interesting story, and too bad that the bull shark idea didn't happen - that would have been a very interesting exhibit.
