Thieves break into aquatics shop, steal shark

[July 30, 2008]  LONDON (AP) -- British police were searching for a shark stolen from an aquatics shop over the weekend in southern England.

The female Australian marbled cat shark was one of a breeding pair kept in a converted garage in the back of a store owned by Peter Newman in Farnborough, about 20 miles west of London's Heathrow Airport, police said Tuesday.

The shark, two feet long and mottled brown, is rare in Britain, police said.

Newman, 68, said he realized the shark was missing Saturday morning when he found the door to the converted garage ajar and the lights on inside.

"I'm just very angry really," he told The Associated Press on Tuesday. "Whoever came in there clearly knew what they were after. They probably would have taken the pair, but the male's a bit harder to catch really."

The two sharks have produced seven pups, which are kept in an adjacent tank, Newman said. None of them were taken in the theft.

His wife, June Newman, said the pair might together be worth as much as $20,000 because of their rarity. She said her husband might have left a door unlocked.

She also said she was puzzled by the theft, explaining that it would have been difficult to snatch the shark because the top of the tank was around five feet off the ground.

"It's mind-boggling to me as to how this shark has been taken," she said.

[Associated Press]

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