A man has discovered the carcass of a great white shark while exploring an abandoned wildlife park.
That sentence right there is the sole reason why I’ll never, ever explore an abandoned anything: theme park, hospital, wildlife park, you name it – I’m staying as far away from there as possible.
One man didn’t stay away though, and what he discovered is enough to put you off exploring for life. Because he found a five-metre great white shark suspended in a tank of chemicals.
The discovery was made in a deserted, derelict wildlife park in Victoria, Australia, which has been taken over by squatters, the Daily Mail reports.
Inside one of the buildings – which is scattered with litter, broken furniture, and old appliances – the explorers found the carcass of the great white floating in a tank of formaldehyde – a chemical used to preserve dead bodies.
The shark was found dead in 1998 in tuna fishing nets in South Australia, and had been preserved in the wildlife park in Bass, eastern Victoria, ever since.
You can take a look at the discovery below:
The YouTubers explored the park, which was shown in a 30 minute video. It’s gained nearly 10 million views since it was posted in November last year.
It shows the people discovering the shark, stumbling upon the tank filled with chemicals, and being stunned when they realise what’s inside.
One asks:
What the hell, can you guys see that? That is creepy as.
The abandoned park was reportedly shut down seven years ago in 2012 by the Department of Sustainability and Environment, due to offences against wildlife. The park also didn’t hold a license to display native animals to the public.
PixabayAs such, the operator was evicted and surrendered all the wildlife to the RSPCA and the Department of Sustainability, but they didn’t find a new home for the shark.
The YouTuber’s aren’t the only people to stumble upon the shark; since their video went viral, others have journeyed to the wildlife park in hope they’ll make the same discovery.
Melbourne artist and photographer Dom Krapski visited the tank in January, only to notice vandals had destroyed part of the tank, and as such, expects the shark’s remains won’t last for much longer.
The photographer wrote:
Vandals recently tore the roof off the tank and I guess in a couple more weeks, this’ll all be gone.
With the tank open, a lot of the preservative juice within has already evaporated, and it’s only a matter of time before someone smashes the glass on the sides and this reverts to being urban myth and as opposed to an actual thing.
As creepy as I thought the discovery was, it’s such a shame vandalism has ruined something which has been preserved for such a long time.
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A Broadcast Journalism Masters graduate who went on to achieve an NCTJ level 3 Diploma in Journalism, Lucy has done stints at ITV, BBC Inside Out and Key 103. While working as a journalist for UNILAD, Lucy has reported on breaking news stories while also writing features about mental health, cervical screening awareness, and Little Mix (who she is unapologetically obsessed with).