New York Aquarium officials announced that Bertha, the quietly famous sand tiger shark, died last Saturday and has gone to that Big Aquarium in the Sky. Many tears were shed along the waters of the aquarium when officials realized that Bertha was beyond mortal help and was quickly swimming toward her Maker; she would need to be euthanised to save her from further suffering. Even though it’s as easy to become sentimental over a shark as it is over a lawyer, this shark was something special.
Bertha was special because not only was she the NY Aquarium’s oldest shark, she was one of the oldest sharks in any aquarium in the world. Even though it’s not certain (aquarium records regarding her were lost) she may have arrived there as early as 1963 (but no later than 1965) after being caught by fishermen and handed over to the aquarium. She quickly attained her full grown size of 8 1/2 feet long and weight of nearly 250 pounds and swam through the decades. According to scientists, tiger sharks pose no threat to human beings, despite Bertha’s mean-looking if weary appearance.
Sharks, already possessing an unfavorable reputation, were forever relegated to the status of devils incarnate with Steven Spielberg’s film JAWS. These predators of the deep are certainly not playfully cute creatures that one can come to know and love…like, for instance, dolphins. Despite the fact that only three or four species (there are about 360 known species) of sharks pose a threat to humans, when a shark attack is reported a shark is a shark and species be damned…scientists have such an annoying way of complicating issues of good and evil with their studies.
Bertha, however, will be missed. The New York Aquarium, for those of you who don’t know, is located in Coney Island. A shark (or anything for that matter) that could survive for 43 years in a place where so much has ceased to exist is worthy of respect…there are so many human predators on that beleaguered island.
Source: New York Times
Tags: animals, coney-island
Sphere: Related Content
April 11th, 2008 at 6:39 am
Sad. I’ll miss Bertha too, but I’m glad she had people that loved her.