Last weekend, two men and a woman carrying a toddler stole a two-foot-long gray horned shark from an aquarium in San Antonio, TX. They wrapped the shark in a blanket, shoved it in a plastic bucket and hid the bucket in a baby-stroller, which they rolled out of the aquarium. The theft happened to take place on the last day of “Shark Week,” the Discovery Channel’s yearly week of programming about sharks. And no, you can’t make this stuff up.

The shark, nicknamed Miss Helen, was in a “touch pool” where visitors are encouraged to interact with the marine life. Surveillance video shows the three adults waiting until the aquarium attendant is looking away to grab the shark. Aquarium employees realized that something was wrong immediately and confronted the sharknappers in the parking lot after they had already loaded the shark into their truck. They refused to allow their vehicle to be searched and drove off. Fortunately, the video caught the thieve’s license plate.

After reviewing the video footage and running the plate, the police visited a house where they found Miss Helen in a large tank with other sharks and other marine animals. The police arrested Anthony Sinclair Shannon, 38, and charged him with felony theft. He has been released on $10,000 bail.

Shannon told a local television station that he is “an activist, not a criminal.” Nevertheless, MySA reports that “according to online court records, Shannon has a lengthy criminal history in Bexar County. He’s been convicted of at least six charges, including vehicle theft, drug possession and evading arrest.” Perhaps he will add sharknapper to his rap sheet.

The San Antonio Aquarium retrieved Miss Helen, who is reported to be healthy, and returned her to the aquarium. She has been described as “a tough little horn shark.”

Shark stolen from aquarium and taken away in a pram