Ponte Vedra High School students paid fisherman for dead shark used in senior prank
More details have emerged in a senior prank at Ponte Vedra High School that left a gutted shark carcass hanging from the rafters of the school's front courtyard.
Five PVHS students, all male, have been identified as being responsible for the stunt, which included paying $100 for the dead shark from a local fisherman and designing a "pulley system" used to hoist the animal.
The Record obtained a final report of the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission's investigation into the May 5 incident which prompted PETA to reach out to St. Johns County school administrators offering to educate students on the mistreatment of animals.
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FWC's investigation found that the teens involved in the shark hanging did not slaughter the animal themselves.
According to the agency's report, two of the boys – who fish regularly – went to the Mayport Docks on the night of May 3. The man next to them reeled in a shark and the boys asked if they could buy it for $100, which they both contributed toward.
FWC investigators learned through interviews that the students buried the shark with ice in a friend's yard later that night, then came back the following night to transfer the animal in the bed of a truck.
Students in on the prank used a pulley system to lift shark
At about 9 p.m. May 4, the group rolled the shark into the high school [which had an open gate] and "helped lift the shark into the rafters using a pulley system."
In cooperation with the State Attorney's Office, FWC determined criminal charges were not warranted in the case.
According to Alex AuBuchon, an FWC spokesman for the Northeast region of Florida, "The shark was positively identified as a 6- to 7-foot bull shark, which is permissible to harvest. Anglers are allowed to harvest one bull shark with a minimum fork length of 54 inches, or 4-1/2 feet."
The students are facing in-district consequences in line with a Level 4 offense, which could mean suspension, expulsion, transfer to an alternative school or referral to mental health services.
St. Johns County spokeswoman Christina H. Upchurch said penalties had not been finalized as of Thursday.
As for the shark, well, after being cut down by a school custodian, the animal was placed in a dumpster, transferred to the county's waste station on North Stratton Road and finally transported to a landfill in Georgia.
This article originally appeared on St. Augustine Record: Ponte Vedra High School students paid $100 for dead shark used in prank
