A Florida man is asking the public for help getting his 7-foot shark back after someone stole it off his front porch, according to WINK News. The shark, named Sandra, is a fiberglass replica, not the real thing. Still, her owner says she is very much a member of the family. He was out of town at a cancer benefit when she disappeared.
Nate Winkler said Sandra was taken from the spot where she had hung for years, taking up a full 7 feet of wall space at the front of his house. He had stepped away to attend the benefit when someone made off with her. Now he’s publicly asking whoever took her to bring her home.
Sandra isn’t just some random lawn ornament, though. She’s a fiberglass replica of a real sandbar shark that Winkler caught and released alive on a deep-sea fishing trip out of Fort Lauderdale around a decade ago. Ever since, the replica has become a fixture at the house and, in Winkler’s telling, something close to a pet.
The theft is more than the loss of a sentimental statue, though. Winkler reported Sandra missing. And because the piece cost $2,500 to make and would run about $4,000 to replace, it actually qualifies as grand theft. Still, he knows it’s a long shot that Sandra will be returned. That hasn’t stopped him from holding out hope.
Who Sandra Is to the Winkler Family
After 10 years on the wall, Sandra had taken on a personality of her own, at least as far as the Winklers are concerned. The family recently repainted their house, a project that followed years of repairing hurricane damage. They’d just put Sandra back in her usual spot. To hear Winkler describe her, she’s less decoration than a real character in his home: “She doesn’t bite. She’s friendly. She’s house-trained.”
Winkler has made a point of saying he’s not angry at whoever took Sandra, only that he wants her back safely. He’s framed the theft less as a crime to punish than a misunderstanding to fix. For him, the loss is mostly sentimental, tied to the memory of the catch and the photos he still has from that day. And he really, really just wants his shark back.
The Search for Sandra
To help spread the word, a friend made Sandra a “missing” poster, the kind you would expect to see for a lost pet. Winkler also reported her to the police, who now have an unusual case on their hands. He said he asked the detective whether anyone on the force had ever worked a missing shark case before, and was told this was the first. And it may remain the only missing shark case the police force sees, as these things obviously don’t happen often.
Winkler knows the clock is working against him, since the first days after a theft are usually the best chance to recover anything. Still, he’s holding out hope that Sandra finds her way back to the porch. And for all his frustration, he admits the whole thing is about as Florida as a story can get. It truly is a whale, er, shark of a tale.