The huge aquariums in Pfungstadt, in which various shark species should be shown to up to 500,000 visitors per year, are history.
On Monday evening, at the initiative of the Greens, the city council decided to discontinue all planning for the “Shark City” project, which has been waiting to be implemented since 2017.
For years, the city had reserved a plot of land in the north industrial area for investors on which a large hall was to be built.
To date, however, no sales contract has been concluded for the property.
Investors dropped out because of Corona
Two weeks ago, one of the investors had declared in the city's building committee that he was currently unable to get financing because Corona investors had dropped out, which is why the planned opening date in 2023, when Pfungstadt hosts the Hessentag, could not be kept.
Animal rights activists protested against the display of sharks as early as 2017 and described the project as animal cruelty because the animals regularly travel long distances in their normal environment and are not suitable for being kept in captivity.
There were also concerns about possible groundwater pollution by salt water, because the industrial area is located in a water protection area and in the immediate vicinity of a sewage treatment plant.