Attempted SeaQuarium stingray theft reported

Freshwater stingrays can grow up to 2m

An aquarium in Weston-super-Mare has installed CCTV after someone reportedly tried to steal a baby stingray.

Ben Melhuish, from SeaQuarium, said a woman told staff she had seen a man with both arms in a tank last week, trying to get one of the stingrays out.

When staff went to the scene, there was nobody there.

Mr Melhuish said the baby freshwater stingrays were loaned to the aquarium by Bristol Zoo and were likely to be returned when they are grown.

He said: "We're not sure how exaggerated her story might have been, we'd never seen it happen before, but it was certainly a bit of a shock to hear that someone could possibly have been trying to steal one of our baby stingrays.

"A lot of people see them in their small size and think they would be ideal as pets.

"So perhaps somebody may have wanted it as a pet, I'm not sure, but it would have been a bit of a surprise when it ended up growing to two metres."