NEWS
ACRES IN THE NEWS
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938 Live
2 March 2006
Bukit Timah condo to remove shark pets?
Local animal welfare group, ACRES, has welcomed the Agri-Food and Veterinary Authority's advice to Parc Palais condominium to remove two black tip reef sharks currently kept there.
But it remains concerned about the nurse shark that's kept in the same tank as the other two sharks.
It says the AVA has advised the condo management to remove the reef sharks as the tank may not be large enough to accommodate them when they are fully grown.
These sharks can grow up to one metre in length.
ACRES questions why the AVA hasn't issued the same advisory about the nurse shark.
As it notes, the nurse shark has grown so much, it's already longer than the width of the tank in which it's kept.
Nurse sharks can potentially grow to four metres.
ACRES again called for the shark to be removed to Underwater World Singapore.
It notes that AVA bans the sale of sharks in pet shops because they have a large territorial range in their natural habitat.
Why then should it be acceptable to keep a pet shark in a small tank, it asks.
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