A VIDEO of a blacktip shark being kept in an aquarium at a Malaysian restaurant has sparked anger online, with many calling for the animal’s release from its confining home.

The eight-second video posted on Facebook by a diver who went to the restaurant outside Kuala Lumpur showed the animal swimming back and forth in a fish tank, described in the post to be “barely 6ft (1.8m) long, 3ft deep and 3ft high”.

It had 17,000 views and 283 shares as of today, with many users expressing outrage at the animal’s cramped living conditions.

“Release the poor animal, this is absurd and so primitive,” said Nicky Cooper.

“How can anyone enter that place and eat or drink there?”

“Free Charlie the Shark!!” user Luis ON said, referring to the animal’s name.

Blacktip sharks can be found in warm temperate and tropical waters along coastal areas across the world, ranging from the Atlantic to Indian and Pacific Oceans.

They can grow up to 2.4m and weigh up to 100kg, according to the National Geographic website.

Targeted by commercial fisheries, the blacktip is classified as near threatened by protection group International Union for Conservation of Nature.

Malaysian Nature Society president Henry Goh said sharks belong in the wild and cannot be treated like domestic animals for commercial use.

“Sharks are free-ranging and should be left free in its natural habitat, the open sea,” he told AFP.

There are 68 species of sharks in Malaysian waters, though only one, the whale shark, is protected.

The animals are generally hunted by fishing vessels, with shark fin viewed as a delicacy by many Asians and often served as a soup at expensive Chinese banquets.

The user who posted the video, under the Facebook account Renaza Resort Indonesia, on June 29 said he had gone for dinner at the restaurant, which has murals of sea creatures, including sharks, on the walls.

“As a diver, this got me all excited. As I walked into the cafe admiring the place and the underwater-themed decor… 5 steps into the shop… to my horror, I saw a blacktip shark in an aquarium inside the cafe,” he said in the post.

“Sitting in the cafe made me feel really sick and disgusted as I watched the shark swim in circles non-stop.

“I wanted to think of how to save this creature, it did not do anything to deserve being treated like this. THIS IS ANIMAL CRUELTY!!!!!!!!”

Attempts by AFP to reach the restaurant’s owners were unsuccessful.

However, posts on local food blogs suggest that the animal may have been kept there since April 2015.

‘Charlie’ unsuitable for the wild

In a clarification issued on September 25, the restaurant (THSC) said through a public relations representative that the information circulating on social media were inaccurate and misleading.

The representative, Alexander Leow, said the inaccuracies include the size of the tank that “Charlie” is kept in, which is measured at 8ft-long, 4ft-deep and 3ft-high, substantially bigger than the measurements being circulated online.

Leow said the shark was found by THSC owners in a fish market in Kuala Lumpur and it would have likely been culled, had it not been bought by the restaurant, as it was surplus.

He said the shark had also spent too long away from the sea to be released back into the wild as its chances of surviving had been lowered drastically.

The rep said the restaurant is also keeping the shark under the advice of regulators and veterinarians, and no regulations are being breached.

The restaurant had also confirmed with the Malaysian Fisheries Department that “Charlie”, a black-tipped reef shark, is not from an endangered species.

Leow added that the restaurant realises that the shark will outgrow its confinements eventually and THSC is working closely with authorities to find it a new home where it will be taken care of properly. – July 2, 2018.

* This article has been updated with the restaurant’s clarification on September 25.