Video: Betta Fish in 30 Seconds

For Immediate Release:
February 27, 2019

Contact:
Moira Colley 202-483-7382

Petco markets them as a “low maintenance introduction for pet parents”—and they’re dying right on pet store shelves. They’re betta fish, and a new PETA video reveals how stores like Petco confine these complex and highly sensitive animals—now known to exercise peacekeeping strategies, be attentive parents to their young, and even eavesdrop—to tiny plastic cups with scarcely a couple of inches of water inside.

“People have reported finding dead, sick, and injured betta fish floating in filthy water in takeout-style containers at Petco stores,” says PETA Senior Vice President Daphna Nachminovitch. “PETA reminds everyone that there’s no such thing as a ‘starter pet’ and that sensitive betta fish—if not left to their own devices in their natural habitat—require gallons of temperature-controlled water, a filtration system, and environmental enrichment to survive.”

PETA’s motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to abuse in any way,” and the group opposes speciesism, a supremacist view of the world. More information about betta fish is available on PETA’s website.