Woman charged, fined for leaving shark head along Great Miami banks

PIQUA — A Dayton woman was ordered to pay a fine after being charged for leaving a shark head along the banks of the Great Miami River in Piqua in March.

Court records obtained by News Center 7 show Natalie Siler was charged with stream litter, a misdemeanor, by the Ohio Department of Natural Resources’ Division of Wildlife.

The charge carried a fine of $176, which Siler paid earlier this month.

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Siler had previously emailed News Center 7 admitting to leaving the shark head behind in Piqua. She also commented on a Facebook post saying she bought the shark head from Jungle Jims.

Official documents showed that Siler said she used the head as bait and thought it would be washed away. Siler also returned to the location to push the head into the river while recording it.

Siler’s family did not understand why she was in trouble. According to the Statement of Facts, her father reportedly told a wildlife officer that “if she had left an apple pie along the river instead of a shark head, no one would care.”

Siler was told by a wildlife officer that leaving the head behind risked spreading diseases to the native fish populations. Additionally, she “created a level of panic for people that noticed it.”

The ODNR officer on the case called the incident a case of “poor judgement.”

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