PETA Statement: Deadly Stingray Touch Tank Must Be Closed Down

For Immediate Release:
July 8, 2016

Contact:
David Perle 202-483-7382

Grand Rapids, Mich. –

Please see the following statement from PETA Foundation Associate Director of Captive Animal Law Enforcement Rachel Mathews in response to last night’s deaths of 18 stingrays and three sharks at the John Ball Zoo:

There are few exhibits deadlier than a touch tank, where sensitive aquatic animals are unable to escape a constant onslaught of groping hands that dirty and pollute the water with bacteria and where a single malfunction or mistake could suffocate and poison dozens of animals in one go. We saw it last night at the John Ball Zoo, and we saw it last year when an oxygen malfunction killed 54 cownose rays at the Brookfield Zoo. PETA is calling on the John Ball Zoo to take the only reasonable action here and close down the deadly touch tanks for good.

PETA’s motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to use for entertainment.” For more information, please visit PETA.org.