More than 600 miles from the nearest ocean, it is still possible for St. Louis residents to celebrate Shark Week.
Discovery Channel’s annual shark-related programming takes place until Sunday, and the St. Louis Aquarium at Union Station is joining the festivities.
“For our team, every day is shark day. But during this week, the whole nation really is focusing on sharks,” said the aquarium’s executive director, Tami Brown. “It gives us a great opportunity to get our message out a little bit farther about how amazing these animals are.”
Brown said she and other aquarium employees hope this week will help people conquer what she said is a natural fear of sharks.
Visitors to the aquarium can do so by crossing a rope bridge above the water, watching feedings, touching small sharks and participating in a Q&A with divers while they are in the tank. Also this week, the aquarium will feature a new shark each day and allow guests to touch replicas of its teeth.
Kids can also make shark hats, part of an effort to portray the animals as friendly instead of dangerous.
Hannah Roethemeyer, a senior aquarist who often feeds the aquarium’s 17 sharks, said that message is important because television programs often promote misleading ideas that sharks are a severe threat to humans.
“Sharks really aren't scary at all. They make them seem like these big man-eating animals, when in reality they're really solitary,” she said. “They don't really want anything to do with you.”
Experts say shark attacks are rare.
Roethemeyer said the St. Louis Aquarium’s version of Shark Week is designed to educate visitors, not scare them.
“It is a great way to supplement that education you might not be getting from the more classic Shark Week stuff on TV,” she said.
After a behind-the-scenes tour of the shark tank’s feeding area on Tuesday, Ivanna Mejia, a tourist from Colombia, said the aquarium’s strategy was effective.
While on the tour, she asked several questions about the sharks, including if they ate the fish inside the aquarium’s tank. Mejia said she was surprised to hear her tour guide say no.
“Sharks are awesome creatures. And if it weren't for them, our whole ocean ecosystem would be completely distorted,” Mejia said. “I feel like we should have so much respect for them and not fear.”
Mejia was chosen randomly from the crowd of people inside the aquarium for a “random act of kindness tour,” which Brown said the aquarists like to do frequently.
But even for those who didn’t see the sharks swimming behind the scenes, Shark Week was still a success.
After petting a Bamboo Shark, 12-year-old Tripp Zuber said he wasn’t afraid of the creatures.
“I really feel that the chances of you getting bitten by a shark or attacked by a shark are extraordinarily low. There's no real danger,” he said.
