A bill that would make it a crime to let people pet sharks has been tabled in the Iowa Legislature.

The bill was in response after a small shark bit an employee at a for-profit zoo in West Des Moines, and the shark had to be killed to get it’s teeth out of the employee’s hand. Republican

Representative Ray Sorensen of Greenfield sponsored the bill. “It doesn’t shut this place down. It just shuts down them having people pet a damn shark,” he says.
A Humane Society lobbyist says the zoo still allows people to pet that same kind of shark, which Sorensen says shouldn’t happen. “I hate to say it’s a common sense bill, but for me, it’s a common sense bill. We shouldn’t be petting sharks,” Sorenson says.

Republican Representative John Wills declined to advance the bill, saying he doesn’t like legislation that just affects one business in the state.

(By Katarina Sostaric, Iowa Public Radio)

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