Orange to Sink Its Teeth Into Shark Dispute

One of his neighbors in Orange believes Mark Nalley has bitten off more than he can chew this time. It’s not the size of his new backyard aquarium that’s the problem--it’s the eight sharks that live in it.

Nalley, 30, says he tried to make sure he wouldn’t be violating any laws before he began building the 20,000-gallon pool about a year ago. In fact, he says he was assured by the city, as well as state and county Fish and Game officials, that there wouldn’t be any problems connected with keeping the sharks.

But now, two months after he filled the new $80,000 aquarium and turned the sharks loose in it, an unidentified neighbor has complained, and the Orange City Council is scheduled to take up the matter at a public hearing Aug. 11.

The nameless sharks--four black-tips, two leopards, one white-tip and one lemon shark--range from six inches to 33 inches long, Nalley said. Nalley says he plans to trade any that get four feet long for smaller sharks.

In the past, Nalley says, he has traded sharks with Sea World in San Diego, Marineland in Palos Verdes, the Steinhart Aquarium in San Francisco and the Waikiki Aquarium in Hawaii. He says he has had sharks in his home for six years but never on this scale--and never outdoors.

He started with a 250-gallon aquarium and graduated to a 1,000-gallon tank before deciding to move his hobby outside.

Nalley’s fascination with sharks began when he was looking for a company logo, he said during an interview at Flex Equipment Co. Inc., a physical fitness equipment business in Orange he has owned for 10 years.

“A shark has been termed the ultimate machine,” he says. “That was a nice association we wanted to make with our product.” Now the likeness of a swimming shark is emblazoned on Flex T-shirts, envelopes and letterheads. And a 52-inch model of a great white shark hangs in Nalley’s office.

His earthquake-proof, uncovered aquarium juts from a hillside, rising three feet above ground and extending three feet below ground. About 110 tons of concrete were used in its construction, Nalley says. The landscaping, which includes 50 tons of granite, hasn’t been completed.

“It has two viewing panels, and you have to climb four feet of granite rock to get to the top,” Nalley says.

Neighbor Cynthia Hartstein says she was not upset by the sharks after inspecting the aquarium.

“I have two children, and I’m not concerned in the least,” Hartstein says. “We scuba and swim with sharks a lot. We have swum with a lot larger fish than those.”

But neighbor Michelle Benabou calls the sharks “terrible.”

“I don’t see why any person would want to have a shark as a pet,” she says. “How can a shark not be dangerous? Aren’t they all?”

“It’s too bad that when people talk about sharks their first perception is ‘Jaws,’ ” Nalley says.

“I think it’s important the general public know there are 350 species of sharks, and only five species have a reputation for being killers. All sharks are not the man-eaters they’re made out to be.”

“There’s nothing in the pool that can jump out of the water and chase someone down the street.”

In fact, the aquarium’s waters are more dangerous than the sharks, says Tom Tucker, curator of Steinhart Aquarium in the California Academy of Sciences in San Francisco.

“The danger from drowning is of more concern to me than the sharks,” Tucker says, although sharks, not usually aggressive, can if provoked “take a chunk of meat off of your hand.”

But according to Nalley, the creatures much prefer squid, red snapper and mackerel. He says their food costs him about $40 a month.

“I suppose it’s conceivable (they are safe),” says Orange Mayor Pro Tem Don E. Smith, “but how do you convince the public? I don’t know if they are dangerous or not, but I’ve always heard since I was a kid to look out for sharks when we go to the beach.

“Unless it’s proven entirely safe, and the neighbors feel comfortable that the sharks won’t do damage to a kid if he falls into the pool, . . . I’d have to look at it and consider what is best to do.”

Smith says that those issues will be aired at the Aug. 11 public hearing and that the city clerk is inviting “homeowners’ groups and the same groups when we had the tiger situation.”

The tiger situation?

In 1983, the Orange City Council granted permission for a tiger trainer to keep an 8-month-old Bengal tiger cub in a cage in an industrial park in the northern part of town.

“There are two tigers now,” Smith says. “The (city) attorney’s office checks them every now and then.”