Where preserved great white shark that was found in abandoned wildlife park is now

Joe Harker
2026-03-01T18:54:45.323Z
News

Rosie the shark got left behind when the wildlife park her preserved body was in closed down

The preserved body of a great white shark went on quite a journey after being discovered in an abandoned wildlife park.

Back in 2012 the Wildlife Wonderland park in Australia closed down after it turned out it had been operating without the proper licences and the place was abandoned.

One of the many things left behind was the preserved body of Rosie, a great white shark floating in a tank of formaldehyde, though fortunately she managed to find another home after many years.

It was quite the journey for Rosie but she was eventually taken in by the Crystal World Exhibition Centre, restored and put up in their car park.

That's where Rosie ended up after a long journey which started all the way back in 1997.

Rosie's journey began in 1997 with her death after she got caught in fishing nets (Facebook)

That was the year when the great white shark died after getting caught in tuna fishing nets with no ability to escape, with the decision being made to humanely put her down.

Once they'd put Rosie down her body was kept in a freezer for study purposes, though they did have to get her out of there at one point because they needed to conduct an autopsy after reports of a missing person pointed towards them being lost at sea.

After checking whether Rosie had eaten the missing person before she died the question of what to do with her body was pressing.

There was interest from a Sea Life Centre but in the end Wildlife Wonderland won the bidding and in 1998 paid around AU $500,000 (£250,000) to buy the shark, build a room for it, transport Rosie around 900 miles in a refrigerated van and keep her body in a tank of toxic formaldehyde.

For several years that's where Rosie stayed until the place was shut down and the live animals moved out, but the preserved carcass of the great white shark was left behind, still floating in her toxic tank.

Rosie the Shark eventually found a new home (Facebook/Rosie the Shark)

Once it had closed the Wildlife Wonderland site became abandoned and eventually turned into a favourite haunt of urban explorers as people would break in to look at the decaying wildlife park as nature took back what it could.

Rosie's tank was vandalised several times as people threw things in there including a TV, while others tried to smash the glass of her tank which caused the carcinogenic formaldehyde to leak out.

In 2018 an urban explorer video drew fresh attention to the great white shark that had been left behind in the abandoned park.

Interest drew vandals but also spurred restoration efforts for Rosie, who in 2019 was bought by the Crystal World Exhibition Centre, extensively restored and put in a new tank with glycerol rather than formaldehyde.

Since then the great white shark has been on display.