Many of us remember when Geraldo Rivera opened Al Capone’s vault on live TV in the mid-1980s … and it was empty. If not, let me refresh your memory with this unforgettable clip.
All of us at Tonic wanted you to know that an online-only event is coming up which rivals Geraldo’s stunt. However, the results will probably be more promising. Sushi anyone? As I write this story, Auckland Museum is set to perform a public necropsy, or animal autopsy, on a 3-meter long, 300 kg Great White Shark on a loading dock at the facility in New Zealand.
The dissection will be streamed live online for the next two hours. The museum is performing this stomach-turning stunt to draw attention to the need to protect these awesome creatures and to dispel myths about them. Before you fume about the museum unnecessarily sacrificing a beautiful predator in the name of conservation, the Great White was found dead and entangled in fishing nets in a New Zealand harbor last week.
If you miss the live event, video footage of the necropsy will be available here after 6 p.m. PT today. Here’s to a more exciting show than Geraldo gave us! And wouldn’t it be great if Al Capone actually slid out of the shark’s stomach (found after all these years). Sorry, Geraldo.