For Immediate Release:
January 26, 2020
Contact:
Megan Wiltsie 202-483-7382
Philadelphia, Penn. – Earlier today, three PETA supporters dressed as fish collapsed and flapped on the floor near the checkout counters at a Philadelphia Petco store to protest the chain’s sales of betta fish. Video footage is available here.
The protest comes after a PETA video exposé revealed that listless, sick, and dead bettas were found floating in cramped, barren plastic containers with low water levels at Petco stores across the country—and after a PETA Asia investigation of Thailand’s betta fish industry, including two facilities that supply bettas to Petco, found numerous dead fish, many on the floor, likely having suffocated.
“Betta fish are suffering and dying right on Petco’s shelves, and those who survive are sold as ‘starter pets’ to shoppers who aren’t prepared to meet their unique needs,” says PETA Executive Vice President Tracy Reiman. “PETA is calling on Petco to stop profiting from the misery of these vulnerable little animals.”
PETA—whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to abuse in any way”—opposes speciesism. More information about Petco is available here.
