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Fareed Khan / AP
Visitors surround the carcass of a whale shark in Karachi, Pakistan, on Feb 9, 2012. People crowded around to put their hands on the massive shark, and families snapped their picture with it — ignoring the pungent smell as it began to rot.
Ashraf Khan of The Associated Press takes up the story:
KARACHI, Pakistan — Qasim Khan waged the unlikeliest of battles with Pakistani authorities Thursday over the right to charge hundreds of curious visitors 20 rupees (22 cents) each to see a roughly 40-foot whale shark he bought from a fisherman.
Khan is in the business of buying fish, albeit usually much smaller ones, and jumped at the chance on Tuesday to pay about $2,200 for the 20-ton behemoth, which was discovered dead in the Arabian Sea off the southern Pakistani city of Karachi.
Business was brisk Wednesday, as several thousand people paid to see the brown and white-spotted shark, which Khan set up under a cloth tent next to the harbor.
But police cracked down Thursday, saying fishery authorities had decided people should be allowed to see the shark for free. Khan resisted and hid his prize attraction under the giant piece of green cloth he had previously used as a tent.
Fareed Khan / AP
A boy peeks inside a tent where the carcass was being kept. One visitor, 9-year-old Fizza Umar, said "It was so huge! I wish I could take it home."
Shakil Adil / AP
A man sells tickets to people eager to see the shark.
The move sparked a comic game of cat and mouse between Khan and the police. They would order him to remove the cover, which he would do briefly before replacing it. Then the cycle would start over again.
Khan countered by saying he paid 200,000 rupees for it. "To recover my cost I am charging just 20 rupees per ticket, but the forsaken fishery authorities have deprived me of this fortune," he said. Read the full story.
Fareed Khan / AP
Some in the crowd were upset to see people climbing all over the shark. "This is sheer disrespect for animals," said 20-year-old nursing student Usman Zada.
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Strange how this article says it was sold for $2,200, and the first article on Tuesday, when the story broke, stated it was sold at just over $18,000. Somebody got their wires crossed. Maybe they discounted it as it rotted and got more stinky. Sounds like good eating huh?
so this is what life would be like without the Internet.
If they don't dispose of the carcass before it loses too much physical integrity to lift, they will have an oderiferous engineering nightmare on their hands. Should have been left in the water. I do believe it was found already dead or the finders would have made a fortune selling it for food.
The fisherman's story at first said the fish was unconscious and later said it was dead when they captured it. It was also reported in the first story that the fish was sold for over $14,000 immediately after it was removed from the water using two cranes. It made it sound like it was going to be used for food or maybe I just interpreted that way. Either way the story from Tuesday and the story today do not mesh with the amount the fish sold for. I would be wary of eating a fish that was supposedly dead before being captured. They knew exactly where this fish was for 10 days before it died. It makes me question whether the fish may have disease or if it was hassled to death. Regardless of how it died it ended up being a complete waste! If the fish had been allowed to decompose in the sea it could have fed thousands of other fish and birds. Now instead of Mother Nature being allowed to dispose of the fish it will rot on shore and be thrown out somewhere where it will become a health hazard and attract all kinds of vermin. Complete and total waste of resources. If it had been used for food for hungry people maybe that would have been more acceptable.
:)
Actually it's a Trojan Horse with terrorists inside waiting for the right moment to attack.
Government control over the innocent Pakistani people with the lure of seeing dead fish could upset the balance of power in the region. Send drones now.
Where is the hibachi, a gift of food and it lays in waste, only so much we can do. You can lead a horse to water but you can't make him drink. thats it no more donations to lat night TV adds for the hungry.
Well, when it was in the ocean alive they all could have seen it for free if they only knew where. Who the hell would want to stand beside a rotting carcass, a fish especially, and to shell out hard earned money also. I am sure the fisherman who sold it is grinning from cheek to cheek.
Who cares? This fish was found dead.. There's no a small time fisherman could bring in that haul... It even said they found it dead... Then these poor people who have no tv to rot their brains in front of, get the chance to see something they have probably never seen on tv, in a book, or in real life.. So who cares? Everyone on this post has to make some snide remark in reference to their intelligence or intelligence of our species... What does this have to do with any of that? And as for respecting the dead? Its a @!$%#ing shark!! Its not like they are dressing it up... They didn't kill it...so no harm no foul in my book...
This is very sad on many levels
There isn't enough Old Bay in the world to hide the stench of that thing.
What a bunch of pigs. Return it to the ocean and let it recycle back. What a shame in the first place. Their all animals over there.
Rosie O'Donnell vacationing in Pakistan?
Freaking savages. That shark probably smells bad right about now.
Entertainment is entertainment, WE have Trash TV that people can't get enough of... this is by FAR BETTER... I would have no trouble paying to see an AWESOME FISH like this that otherwise I would NEVER get to see. But it does make me sad that it had to die, but I hope it died of Natural Causes.
wow!! these people are very stupid...
Funny, I guess many people here have never seen how we in the USA act around washed up whales on the beach. People clime on them, cut them up, take pictures with them, even blow them up to try and dispose of them. Short of charging money, it sounds very similar.
It’s a dead whale shark, not your dead grandmother!!!
Pakistan better watch out before PETA opens a branch office over there
I'm a biologist and it doesn't surprise me how disrespectful people are to dead creatures. A whale shark is a rare sight and to treat it in such a way is beyond comprehension. What a naive, stupid, primitive culture. What can you expect from a muslim society who degrades women and children and other beliefs.
Most of the People on here would pay to see the thing too!
I will chip in to rent a drone to drop a "de-odorizer" on top of these ragheads..and to think these people control nuclear weapons!!!! And yeah, they found it dead...sure. All these people know is killing things that can't defend themselves.
And this is socially relevant because.......we were at war with this region for nearly a decade, this country is a known terror capital, and this is the best msnbc has to offer its readership? Pathetic!
I believe the first articlesaid it was (200,000 rupees) that is about $18000.00 for a non edible fish. that would explain why they can't feed the people, but have money for nukes? Mean while this man's children are scavaging food at the local dump. Thank god for hookas and Cigarettes.
Be funny if Bin Laden was inside the belly!
Little dude in the blue pajamas better take caution. He might just fall into the decaying, rotting carcass of the whale shark while trying to look cool.