PETA to Petco: We'll Buy All the Bettas if You End Floundering Fish Sales - PETA
PETA to Petco: We'll Buy All the Bettas if You End Floundering Fish Sales - PETA |
| PETA to Petco: We'll Buy All the Bettas if You End Floundering Fish Sales - PETA Posted: 26 Mar 2020 12:00 AM PDT  COVID-19 Pandemic and Retail Slump Prompt Bailout Proposal For Immediate Release: Contact: San Diego – Because shoppers are staying at home, PETA sent a letter today offering to ease some of the financial strain facing Petco: The group will buy every single betta fish on the company's shelves and drop its campaign against the retailer—one that includes graphic video footage of the cruel and deadly betta fish trade in Thailand—if Petco will agree not to sell betta fish again. "As retailers struggle to stay afloat, Petco should seize PETA's offer," says PETA President Ingrid Newkirk. "It would be relieved of caring for thousands of fish, and all it has to do is agree not to restock these vulnerable little animals in the future." A PETA Asia investigation of 10 facilities in Thailand's betta fish industry, including two facilities that supply fish to Petco, revealed bettas gasping for air on waterless trays as workers roughly sorted them for shipping. Tens of thousands of fish were kept in often-filthy bottles, the ammonia from their waste quickly contaminating the small volume of water inside the bottles. Some fish, who had likely suffocated, were left rotting on the floor. A previous PETA video exposé revealed listless, sick, and dead bettas floating in small, barren plastic containers at Petco stores across the country. PETA—whose motto reads, in part, that "animals are not ours to abuse in any way"—opposes speciesism, which is a human-supremacist worldview. For more information, please visit PETA.org. PETA's letter to Petco CEO Ron Coughlin follows. March 26, 2020 Ron Coughlin, CEO Petco Dear Mr. Coughlin, As retailers and their employees are hit hard by COVID-19 and people are staying home except to get essential supplies, I'm writing with an offer: PETA will purchase every betta fish on all your stores' shelves and end our public campaign against Petco's sale of these fish if you'll simply agree not to sell them anymore. We have compelling reasons to make this decision an easy one for you. A recent PETA Asia investigation uncovered what happens to betta fish before they end up at Petco stores. It revealed shockingly unsanitary practices. The eyewitness—who visited 10 breeding factories and packing operations, including two facilities that supply bettas to Petco—saw numerous dead bettas, many on the floor, likely having suffocated. They also say that many fish had died in breeding tanks and that workers didn't bother to remove the dead bodies. Tens of thousands of fish were housed in often-filthy bottles. Ammonia from their waste builds up, quickly contaminating the small volume of water inside. These fish are typically shipped in very small plastic bags—with no food and often barely enough water to cover their bodies—on journeys that can take days. When fish are transported abroad, the stressful trip can cause them to develop diseases and bacterial infections. These are becoming more antibiotic resistant because of rampant drug use in the tropical fish trade and can be passed on to humans. Betta fish are so intelligent that they can recognize and bond with their human guardians and even learn tricks from them, such as swimming through a hoop or pushing a ball into a goal. At stores around the country, sensitive and intelligent betta fish are confined to little plastic cups—with scarcely a couple of inches of water inside. Scores of customers have complained about finding dead or sick bettas floating in filthy water at Petco. Such unhygienic conditions put staff and the public at risk, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention cautions that "[m]ultidrug-resistant human Salmonella infections have been linked to contact with contaminated water from home aquariums containing tropical fish." Fish carrying salmonella often do not show any signs of disease, but humans interacting with them can become severely ill. We hope to hear that you'll accept our offer and allow us to take all the fish who are suffering and dying in plastic cups at your stores off your hands. I'm sure people would applaud you for that. Very truly yours, Ingrid Newkirk President |
| Boy's mom turns home into aquarium after coronavirus nixed his party - 963bigfm.com Posted: 21 Apr 2020 10:59 AM PDT One Michigan mom went above, beyond and under the sea to make up for her son's birthday trip, cancelled due to the coronavirus outbreak. Becky Spagnuolo and her husband, Nick, had decided to take their son to Chicago's Shedd Aquarium for his second birthday on April 13. Since Clark was born, he's always been fascinated by sea creatures. For nearly his entire life, he's tagged along to older brother Mikey's speech therapy sessions. There, the walls are full of painted fish.
"Each time we were there, I would walk him up and down the halls telling him about the fish," she told Global News. "Some of his first words were fish … We just knew that a trip to the Shedd Aquarium would blow him away." So in January, they decided to book a train trip to Chicago to do just that — visit the city's famous aquarium, home to animals from sea otters to tropical fish. Unfortunately, the COVID-19 outbreak threw a wrench in their plans, forcing them to cancel the trip.  Michigan mom Becky Spagnuolo transformed her living room into an aquarium for her son's birthday after the pandemic required them to stay home. Becky Spagnuolo"Cancelling the trip broke my heart," Spagnuolo said. "This was going to be our chance to really give Clark a day about him and what he loves." A day or two after they cancelled their trip, hotel room and all, they came up with the idea to turn their own living room into an aquarium of sorts. "I was just looking for a way to make everyone smile," she said. Looking back to her days when she volunteered at a preschool, she remembered decorations put up on the walls for their ocean unit with the kids.
With craft supplies she already had at home, as well as some ordered from Amazon, Spagnuolo got to work. She and her husband covered their windows with blue tissue paper, giving the illusion of fish tanks. Blue balloons and blow-up fish decorated the space, along with cut-out sharks and turtles and even a mini penguin family. "Clark's reaction to the aquarium was exactly what I would have expected had we been at the real thing," she recalled.
One of Clark's favourite Disney characters is Dory, a blue tang fish. Even she made an appearance that day.  The Spagnuolo family turned their living room into an aquarium when their birthday trip to Chicago's Shedd Aquarium was cancelled due to COVID-19. Becky Spagnuolo"Then he noticed a blue tang I had made on the back window. He shouted, 'Dory! I found Dory, look!' as he ran over to it," she shared. For the Spagnuolo family, a bit of imagination and creativity helped bring everyone together. — Questions about COVID-19? Here are some things you need to know: Health officials caution against all international travel. Returning travellers are legally obligated to self-isolate for 14 days, beginning March 26, in case they develop symptoms and to prevent spreading the virus to others. Some provinces and territories have also implemented additional recommendations or enforcement measures to ensure those returning to the area self-isolate. Symptoms can include fever, cough and difficulty breathing — very similar to a cold or flu. Some people can develop a more severe illness. People most at risk of this include older adults and people with severe chronic medical conditions like heart, lung or kidney disease. If you develop symptoms, contact public health authorities. To prevent the virus from spreading, experts recommend frequent handwashing and coughing into your sleeve. They also recommend minimizing contact with others, staying home as much as possible and maintaining a distance of two metres from other people if you go out. For full COVID-19 coverage from Global News, click here. — With files from Reuters meaghan.wray@globalnews.ca Follow @meaghanwray© 2020 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc. |
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