Katharina Buczek
In 1997, a family set out to catch tuna off the southern coast of Australia. What ended up in their tuna net, though, was a two-ton great white shark named Rosie that would come to capture media attention for years to come.
Rosie had become infamous in Louth Bay, Australia after she bit through a pen of tuna. This angered the local seafood businesses that depended on the region. In turn, the local government actually wanted to hunt and tranquilize her.
So, when the family encountered the great white, they were blown away. Her immense size and dazzling display of teeth intrigued not only the family but also the greater public after word of her capture spread.
Rosie was initially stored in a freezer after the family caught her. But, people everywhere were dying to get a look at the shark. She was eventually transported to the Wildlife Wonderland park in Victoria, Australia, to be put on display.
Although, Rosie’s display was unlike any other. Rather than using a typical taxidermy process, Wildlife Wonderland founder John Matthews decided to leave her interior body entirely intact. So, the shark was placed in a large tank filled with formaldehyde. This allowed her to be observed by the public in full form for years to come.
After attracting thousands of Rosie fans, the Wildlife Wonderland was eventually shut down in 2012. The founder did not possess the necessary legal licenses to display animals and was ordered to surrender all living creatures. This order did not include Rosie, though, and she was left behind after the facility was abandoned.
From 2012 to 2018, Rosie remained completely preserved and alone in the facility. That was until one wanderer named Luke McPherson encountered the abandoned park in November 2018 and uploaded a now-viral YouTube video about Rosie.
McPherson said that Rosie was “left to rot” and displayed shots of her silhouette in the eerily-green tank.
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