Couple Given OK to Keep Pet Sharks

An Orange couple who have eight pet sharks in their backyard saltwater aquarium have won permission to keep them. The City Council voted unanimously late Tuesday to let Mark and Kim Nalley keep the sharks after testimony from a shark expert and favorable comments from three council members.

A city law makes it illegal to keep piranha, and the Nalleys were worried that the law might be extended to include their pets after a neighbor complained to the city that the creatures were a threat to children who might fall into the water. The neighbor later withdrew the complaint.