Shark “Touch Tank”

Rules in regards to being in close quarters with captive animals in Europe are insane. Numerous people "petted" the pair of 5-foot long Blacktip Reef Sharks in this tank, with there also being large Sandbar Sharks and Sand Tiger Sharks that could have been touched as they swam close to the surface in the deeper part of the tank. An employee was there but he just shrugged his shoulders, pointed to the sign that says "the sharks bite!" and walked away.

@snowleopard So, to clarify things, this is not meant to be a touch tank and is instead just an open topped exhibit, correct?

@MonkeyBat Exactly, but the Blacktip Sharks were doing laps and their fins would come out of the water on every turn. I normally never touch animals in zoological facilities, but even I stroked the backs of those sharks as they were obviously used to visitors. Europe is always shocking to me, because later on that day I went to Skaerup Zoo and every single one of the primate exhibits was easy enough for anyone to poke fingers through the wire.

@snowleopard I have never seen an open-topped shark tank with touching opportunities housing such large sharks with sharp, potentially dangerous teeth, and can't think of any other example. All of the touch tanks I've seen always housed smaller species with blunter teeth, like dogfish, catsharks, bamboo sharks and various rays and other fish. This seems like a bit too big a risk for me, and certainly not something to be emulated.

Do you think the difference in barriers between Europe and North America is a cultural thing, something that comes from a different zoo philosophy, or something that comes down to differing regulations? I would think that with regard to zoo animal barriers some international standards likely exist.

That said, I'm not a huge fan of touch tanks in general, because of the risk of introducing pathogens or harmful chemicals from visitors' hands.

North Americans are a bunch of babies who sue for everything; there are even huge lawyer billboards all throughout the United States. Europeans put up signs about animals biting, and if an idiot leans over to pet a Sand Tiger Shark (like I saw happen today) then he's on his own if he gets bitten. In North America there are 3 zoos with lemur walk-throughs (Calgary, Omaha, Tanganyika) and all 3 have zookeepers in there directing traffic. In Europe there are hundreds upon hundreds of walkthroughs, and most of the time I am in with lemurs and various monkeys and there's no one else around. I visited Givskud Zoo today and there was a huge male Barbary Macaque on the path and if anything had happened then there was no one to call for help. It's a real shock to see the cultural differences.

Maybe Danes sometimes have more of a "we'll cross that bridge when we get to it" mentality when it comes to potentially sueable things. For decades, the botanical gardens in Aarhus had a open-topped pool with piranhas without any incidents, but they decided to go out of piranhas immediately a few years back when a toddler put his fingers into the pool and got bitten (despite signs warning visitors to keep their hands to themselves). So it's not like Danish institutions necessarily stand their ground against ridiculous complaints, but we might be more likely to assume that people will use common sense and follow rules until the opposite is proven.

Reminds me of a story my mother told me a long time ago about when she would go hiking in Europe. In America we have loads of signs and fences to keep people from falling off cliffs. In Europe there are no signs or fences to keep you from falling of the cliffs. If your dumb enough to walk off a cliff that’s your own fault.