A stolen shark has been returned to her home at the San Antonio Aquarium after three people snatched her from an interactive touch pool, deposited her in a bucket, and smuggled her out the facility in a baby stroller over the weekend.
Saturday started out like any other day at the aquarium, but things took a strange turn when two men and a woman decided to steal Miss Helen, a 16-inch-long female horn shark, news4SanAntonio.com reported.
In a statement posted to Facebook, the aquarium said the trio staked out the pool for over an hour, waiting for the right moment to strike.
They reportedly used a net to capture the shark, and then snuck her into the filter room, where they transferred her into a bucket and placed it in a baby stroller.
The suspects then pushed the carriage out of the aquarium and into the parking lot.
The aquarium’s general manager, Jenny Stellman, told The Washington Post that she noticed the trio and thought they were acting suspiciously and tried to stop them in the parking lot.
However, one of the men said he was in a rush because his baby was sick and hurriedly made off in his vehicle.
Police were alerted to the incident and, by Monday evening, two suspects had confessed to taking the shark, and Miss Helen was recovered safely in the garage of a San Antonino home and returned to the aquarium.
A 38-year-old man has been charged with theft while charges against the other two suspects are pending, according to the Post.
Leon Valley Police Chief Joseph Salvaggio said they were lucky to return the shark in "one piece," according to NBC News.
"We don't think he was planning on selling it. He didn't say that, but from looking at the other animals [in the home], more than likely it was something that he wanted," Salvaggio said. "He had had one of these in the past, don't know, I think the animal had died sometime in the past."
Jamie Shank, the aquarium’s assistant director of husbandry, said the staff is "overjoyed to have her back."
"When this happened all the staff was very heartbroken simply because we did not think that she would even survive that in itself," she told reporters, according to NBC News. "I'm really proud of her."
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