Leopard sharks, illegal to do a service call??

[Mo_man]

Hi guys, I hope this is the correct forum, if not if anyone can redirect me to the correct section I would greatly appreciate it. So here is the situation:

I was having a discussion with someone about sharks, specifically leapord sharks, we"re located in california and it is illegal to have any sharks smaller then 3 feet if I'm correct. So we started discussing about if we can get in trouble even if we just service someone tank who has leapord sharks smaller then 3 feet. He was saying that you can get in trouble for servicing tanks and to just stay away from those tanks and service calls but I told him it doesnt make sense if you just service a tank, I understand if you sell them or anything like that but does anyone know for sure if you can actually get in trouble for just servicing a tank? We got into a pretty heated debate about this and thought I would check on here since there are a lot of knowledgeable people. Thanks guys and gals.

 

[leedsrhinojohn]

Not sure about US law but over here in the UK you would be charged with failing to report a crime and aiding and abetting.

 

[gafoley]

Servicing the tank itself would not be illegal, unless you transported the fish elsewhere. The law forbids possession of Leopards under 36 inches TL. However, if you ended up being there during a bust, a jerk prosecutor could possibly charge you for not reporting the illegal fish to authorities. My guess is that you'd be fine taking care of the tank. Just don't ever take possession of the fish for any reason.