A five-meter-long shark, embalmed in the late 90s, was (re) discovered by a Youtuber in the park that housed it
A five-meter-long shark, embalmed in the late 90s, was (re) discovered by a Youtuber. It had been forgotten in a failed Australian water park in 2012.
Since 2012, the big shark Rosie lay abandoned in a disused water park, where it had been forgotten. It had been captured in 1998 in southern Australia and placed in a large case filled with formaldehyde, which would have allowed visitors from all over the world to see it exhibited in exhibitions and museums in an almost perfect state of conservation: the animal, in fact, is not had been gutted.
After the failure of the water park that housed her, the Wildlife Wonderland, Rosie was forgotten until 2018, when a young Australian influencer, Lukie Mc, posted a video on Youtube in which he shows the animal abandoned inside the park which has been closed for years: the video quickly went viral and was viewed millions of times all over the world, bringing to light Rosie and her its sad story. Unfortunately, however, if on the one hand the echo of the story involved public opinion, on the other it also attracted vandals and souvenir hunters who rushed into the private property of the park and tried to destroy Rosie's case, succeeding to shatter the outer part of two panels.
Due to the rupture of the case, the liquid that allowed the fossil to be preserved evaporated leaving the animal's back uncovered and allowing the vandals to fill the case with garbage - which, of course, damaged and scratched Rosie's body.
For this reason the fundraiser was born "Save Rosie the Shark”, Which spread quickly thanks to social media, television and radio. The costs of fixing Rosie's case and repairing the damage are huge - an estimated $ 100.000. Anyone can participate in the collection, with a contribution of any amount: the organizers assure that all funds will go to the rescue of the fossil shark, and that further funds will go into the coffers of the Australian Animal Rescue for the conservation of sharks.
Up until now, volunteers have cleared Rosie's case of waste and gravel: it took several weeks to remove all formaldehyde residues. Many days were then used to repair the case and to paint it inside and out. Now experts are at work who will verify the actual conservation status of the shark.
Source: GoFundME / Facebook
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