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Subscribe to RSSFishermen in the Pakistani port of Karachi got more than they bargained for Tuesday as they reeled in one of the biggest fish in the sea: a whale shark.
The Express Tribune, a Pakistani newspaper, reported that the 40-foot fish was first spotted ten days ago in seas about 150 km (93 miles) from the city. Mehmood Khan, the owner of a local fishery, said the shark was unconscious at that time and other reports said that it was found dead Tuesday.
A large crowd gathered as a succession of cranes were brought in to lift the shark on to the pier. After several hours and a number of failed attempts, the leviathan was finally brought ashore and promptly sold for 1.7m Rupees ($18,750).
The whale shark was added to the World Conservation Union's list of threatened species in 2008.
Rehan Khan / EPA
Fishermen tie ropes around the carcass of a whale shark in a harbor in Karachi, Pakistan, on Feb. 7, 2012. The 40-foot whale shark was said to have been found dead in the Arabian Sea.
Asif Hassan / AFP - Getty Images
Cranes pull the carcass of the whale shark from the water on Feb. 7, 2012.
Asif Hassan / AFP - Getty Images
Curious onlookers crowd around the carcass after it was lifted out of the water on Feb. 7, 2012.
Find out what happened to the shark next in this update: Pakistani man fights police over 40-foot shark.
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Some of you folks need to live in poverty for awhile and then see if you're so high and mighty in judging others.
so so sad, if poverty is leading to the extinction, then this needs to be blasted everywhere. The people need to see the truth
The truth is that people who are poor and desperate will take food or money where they find it. Being really picky about what you eat is a privilege of plenty.
So let me see if I understand this. The shark was sold immediately for 18k, presumably for food, but they claim the shark was dead when they found it. So people there will sell shark meat from an animal that has been dead for who knows how long? Something smells fishy about that...
Why did these jackbags kill a harmless plankton eating whale shark ???? These are among the least evolved people on the planet!!
Why do "Jackbags" jump to conclusions without reading the story?
Under the top picture:
I read the story ......"said to have been found dead" I don't believe that sh!t for a second.......if you do you're a "jackbag" as well.
Having some trust issues?
Hopefully you don't pull that line with your spouse or child.
Oh, an endangered whale-shark, nice. I don't suppose it ever occurred to them to throw it back.
I hope the people that killed this poor creature die a horrible death, soon.
To all the people claiming it was "found dead" BULLSH*T, It was slaughtered.
Hey Pakistan, F*CK U, third-world pieces of cr*p. Get a clue. The world HATES YOU
You were there?
Or are you God?
just wondering.
A. There is no god.
B. I've been on the ocean for a lot of my life and I know fresh dead fish when I see it.
C. I donate regularly to the Ocean Conservancy, and I HATE people who kill helpless, endangered creatures.
D. Pakistan is full of idiots and religious a-holes that couldn't care less about the Ocean.
E. Who's side are you on anyways? Don't you care about the Ocean and the creatures in it?
At the very least it died from basking in that filth .....I'm sure that part of the world does very little in the realm of protecting the environment and it's natural resources.
and you know this because.....? Oh there you go being all knowing again.
Ya, they have been aware of it for the previous 10 days. I am sure they were watching it, waiting for it to possibly die. Maybe they saw something unusual in how it was swimming.
Those fins are worth a lot of money for folks with a sexual hang up. They would have grabbed it as soon as possible.
I do too, though there is nothing from this report to lead us to believe anyone killed it.
Bigot.
I certainly do.
I also care about truth, and have no real use for ignorant people that think they know what no one else knows.
It was seen floating 10 days ago dead?
If it was not dead it would not be floating, if it was dead 10 days ago it wouldnot be in as good a shape (and most likely would have sank) as the photos show and they don't come close the shallows so it would not have killed by the filthy water and gosh, someone was around to give them $18,000.
Guess what there will be a lot of dead sharks found in that area soon.
No it was seen swimming 10 days ago off the coast. They had been watching it. Very possible it wasn't quite right in the water and they waited for it to die - also possible they shot it with an AK47.
Anything is possible.
It says they saw it alive, then when it died they hauled it up.
J, you obviously think you know everyting, so I guess theres no convincing you of anything.
Bigot? Me? Not even. I despise all idiots equally. I'm betting you're a bible thumping moron.
If your'e not, then I appologize. Point is, they lied and you're defending murderers. Everyone knows it,
why can't you see that? A bit stuborn are we? Hate to admit you might be wrong?
GL in life.
Where have you seen me say anything like I know everything? Cite?
Mirror time. YOU are the one that claims to know there is no God, that the fishermen killed the shark.
You speak like a bigot:
If it looks like a duck, swims like a duck, and quacks like a duck, then it probably is a duck.
I'm a Christian but I am not a moron.
I was a moron when I was an Atheist. I thought all Christians were of the same mold. Also thought I knew what Christianity was and why it wasn't possible. Sort of embarrassing to realize how uninformed, blind, arrogant, and stupid I was.
You Don't Know That, unless you were there or you are God. Full Circle.
Back in the Old West people thinking like you led lynch mobs.
You are waaaayyyyy too judgmental.
http://www.legendsofamerica.com/photos-oldwest/ShootingBuffalo.jpg
Take a look at this picture. These are Americans, our ancestors, killing the all buffalo in the 1800's. Having no respect for the environment.
You believe the Pakistanis are doing the same thing. It is the 2000's now. You look at their polluted harbors. Their overfishing. They have no respect for the environment.
In time, guess what? They are going to hold high environmental standards too. Just like us.
Just because we realized this first does not mean we are better people or they are worse people.
How about being proud that America came to terms with environmental enlightenment first rather than criticize other countries for not.
You should want them to follow our footsteps, not brag and criticize them for not having footsteps as pretty as yours.
Knew you were a sheep. There's no point in tryin to make a point to someone who believes in fairy tales.
EOM
There you go being an all knowing Being again.
I'm no sheep, came to my understanding through independent study.
Raised in a nonreligious family my father was an agnostic (couldn't have found a more Christian behaving person anywhere).
I was an Atheist, as both my sisters still are.
I really wanted to know the truth and searched for it. Because I wanted to know truth I blanked out what men said including folks like you that declare there is no God.
I didn't become a Christian until I was in my late 30's.
I do not follow any denomination, leader, pastor, doctrine, church, or organization. I do follow God, and have come to trust the bible as truth.
People like you just want to Judge, Judge, Judge.
You Judge in ignorance, but you think you are always right.
Way to go, killing an endangered species that poses no risk to humans.
Ben who killed it? Do you have some information?
Why is that front page news??? Whale sharks regularly grow to that size! Seems to me that MSNBC has a LOT more important news to report! But, like most of the media today, they wont report what we REALLY need to know!
SHAME ON MSNBC!
Tom, why did youread the story if you think it is so worthless?
PM NYC..... what a silly question!
It was spotted 10 days ago, and what do you know, when the fishermen showed up, it had just died. What luck!
FYI the water looks on par for that region of the world. Go find pictures of people swimming at a Karachi beach... only kids would dare go in.
It was an Islamic Whale Shark and was killed because it had befriended an infidel.
I have never even heard of a "Whale Shark" -- that is one scary fish!!
They are harmless ....
Completely harmless though reality 45
You could run your hand along its entire mouth and nothing would happen to you. They eat krill, not people.
Gentle giants.
I brought a girl home from the bar last night and when I did the scratch an sniff test she smelled like dead fish! I wonder if she was from Pakistan?
Those are the clean waters Mitt Romney, Ron Paul Newt and the Republican party promised tp bring back to the US
Looks absolutely fresh and healthy, even to the gills. Not a bite mark on it...sharks and scavenging birds would've been all over a dead one. My guess is that it was netted. First thing the "fishermen" will do is sell the fins to local Chinese restaurants, where they're used not for soup but as advertising signs. Probably migrated up from the southern Indian Ocean or came over from Southeast Asia. They're illegally caught all the time in that part of the world, but the fishermen there are too smart to post a bunch of pictures of their illegal catch.
When fishermen know they can sell something like this for over $18,000 I wonder how many other whale sharks will be found dead.
Ah the Great Whale Shark Conspiracy of 2012! I think it was a drone strike that went off target, hit the water and the concussion killed the fish. I think Greenpeace needs to investigate the Navy's roll in this.
If we are going to have a conspiracy, let's do it right!
If you were a fisherman about to make a couple years salary by catching, killing, and selling an endangered species, wouldn't you tell everyone it was dead when you found it?
As others have pointed out, it clearly was not dead until after it was captured, and maybe not until after it was hauled out of the water. Not only is there a lot of blood, but the bright red color suggests it is fresh.
Just a few thoughts:
1) Watch any special on the River Ganges and you'll understand why the water in the pictures looks like a cesspool.
2) Animals do die of natural causes. Unfortunately, that thing fetched 16k$, I'm not sure how common practice it is to buy and sell carcasses of already dead animals floating around the water and that haven't been placed on ice immediately. That beast looks pretty "fresh" but what do I know. I suspect foul play, only because it is where it is.
3) It is amazing to see such a beast out of water. So dang beautiful and remarkable.
The fins are worth a lot of money. Aphrodisiacs will always bring money.
How is there a market for Whale Shark as its on the endangered species list? This tells me that these people hunted this shark. WTF is up with Asians and their penchant for killing species away to extinction?
So many, always ready to cast blame... Did anyone read the part where it was spotted 93 miles out and was lifeless... It wasn't swimmng in the shallows by the shore.. I am sure the water out that far isn't like the shoreline.. As a diver I know what it's like out there..
So many idiots and morons in one place.
I guess there is no hope for mankind. The gene pool is to polluted for it to.
<heavy sigh> Oh well.
So many idiots and morons in one place.
I guess there is no hope for mankind. The gene pool is to polluted for it to.
<heavy sigh> Oh well.
That's ALOT of sushi.
Those guys killed it and are lying to avoid the bad publicity. They'll ravish the poor creature for what they can get from it. A whale shark is a filter feeder that eats plankton. It is also one on the gentlest creatures in the sea. It made the mistake of swimming into the nets of a Paki fisherman. Disgusting.
Maybe someone posted this already, can't bother to read all the masses of comments...but maybe it got hit by a ship out at sea?!
So this is a whale that has been dead how long? Don't you think it would show signs of deterioration or have been picked at by ocean predators?