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Stuffed white shark dispute widens

MELBOURNE, June 17 (UPI) -- There is no fight left in the stuffed great white shark, but a fight in Australia over its ownership is, of course, another matter.

On one side of the dispute is the Wildlife Wonderland nature park which claims the shark was part of a business sold to them last year, reports the Melbourne Herald Sun.

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On the other side is the Melbourne Museum, which says the rare 16-foot great white was given to them by businessman Ken Armstrong.

The museum is threatening court action if Robert Jones and Chris Cohen and their company Bass River Enterprises, which owns Wildlife Wonderland, do not hand over the shark.

Jones insists he and Cohen bought the park from a company, believing the shark came with the deal. The shark was caught in tuna fishing nets in South Australia in 1998.

Robin Hirst, the museum's director of collections, said the museum believes the deed of gift was legally correct.

"We see it as an extremely important specimen for the public. It is one of the biggest known specimens," he said.

"We have sought our legal opinion that Mr Armstrong was the rightful owner and he gifted it to the museum."

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