Visitors to the Kansas City Zoo will get a chance to pet sharks and stingrays starting later this month.
The Kansas City Star reports that the new $3.5 million Stingray Bay officially opens May 18. It features 20 cownose rays, eight southern stingrays and 12 white-spotted bamboo sharks. Eventually, the public will be able to feed them chunks of fish, probably for a small fee.
Zoo officials said at a preview event Tuesday that they wouldn't take chances with public safety. The rays' stingers near the base of the tail have been snipped off. The removal is harmless to the animals, which face no predators in the zoo exhibit. The bamboo sharks measure about a yard long and are bottom dwellers.