PETA Calls for Release of Octopus From San Antonio Aquarium After Child’s Injury

For Immediate Release:
August 1, 2025

Contact:
David Perle 202-483-7382

Below, please find a statement from PETA Foundation Associate Director of Captive Wildlife Rebecca Smudzinski in response to recent reports that a 6-year-old boy was injured at the San Antonio Aquarium after an octopus named Cthulhu gripped the boy’s arm and refused to let go during a hands-on interaction.

This slimy facility’s exploitative encounters are a recipe for disaster, as injuries abound when timid animals such as octopuses are denied everything natural and important to them and subjected to a barrage of grabbing hands. For everyone’s sake, PETA is calling on the San Antonio Aquarium to stop forcing wild animals to interact with humans and release this octopus to her natural habitat, if possible, or an accredited facility where she can finally live in peace.

Staff members at the aquarium reportedly took up to five minutes to free the boy, who was left with bruising from his wrist to his armpit. PETA notes that the San Antonio Aquarium’s owners, the notorious Covino family, also own the Austin Aquarium—which was just issued an official warning by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) after a slew of customers were bitten, scratched, and otherwise injured by animals.

PETA—whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to use for entertainment”—points out that Every Animal Is Someone and offers free Empathy Kits for people who need a lesson in kindness. For more information, please visit PETA.org or follow PETA on X, Facebook, or Instagram.