(NEXSTAR) – A recall involving millions of baby bath toys modeled after the viral “Baby Shark” children’s song was launched Thursday after reports of multiple injuries.
Zuru, an El Segundo, California-based importer of the Chinese-made products, is recalling 7.5 million toys, which are sold at major retailers and online.
The brightly-colored yellow, blue and pink sharks have a hard plastic top fin which make them potentially hazardous, especially in a bathtub or wading pool, according to the Consumer Product Safety Commission.
There are two types of toys under recall, 6.5 million of the full-sized Robo Alive Junior Baby Shark Sing & Swim Bath Toy, and 1 million of the Robo Alive Junior Mini Baby Shark Swimming Bath Toy.
The CPSC warned that “a child can slip and fall or sit onto the hard plastic top fin of the shark, posing risks of impalement, lacerations and punctures.”
As of Thursday, the government says Zuru is aware of a dozen reports of children falling or sitting on the full-sized Baby Shark, “resulting in impalement injuries, lacerations and puncture wounds, including to children’s genital, anorectal and facial areas.”
Nine of the 12 injuries needed stitches. All 12 injury reports involved the full-sized version of the toy.
The recalled Baby Shark toys were sold at Walmart, CVS, Dollar General, Family Dollar, HEB, Meijer, Target, TJX-owned stores, Ross and Walgreens nationwide. They were also sold online by Amazon and national retailers such as Target and Walmart.
The hard-finned full-size toys under recall bear the model number “#25282” and a date code beginning with the letters “DG” followed by “YYYY/MM/DD” in the date range DG20190501 through DG20220619.
The mini version was sold individually, in packs of two or three, and as part of a Baby Shark Music Water Park playset. The recalled Mini Baby Sharks have the following on the bottom of the toys: raised lettering that states model numbers “#7163,” “#7175,” “#7166,” or “#25291” and a date code beginning with the letters “DG” followed by “YYYY/MM/DD” in the date range DG2020615 through DG2023525.
Anyone who purchased the toy is urged to stop using it and contact Zuru for a full refund of $14 for each full-sized Baby Shark and $6 for each Mini Baby Shark. The refunds will be sent out as a prepaid virtual Mastercard.
According to the CPSC news release:
Consumers should disable the tail fin (by cutting it on the full-size bath toy or by bending it on the mini-size bath toy), mark the body of the shark bath toy with the word “recalled” and the unique code provided during registration for the recall, then upload a photo of the product, showing it is disabled and marked, at https://www.recallrtr.com/bathshark. Upon receipt of the photo, Zuru will issue a refund to purchasers.
Consumer Product Safety Commission