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Gran Canaria in the Canary Islands is set to open the world’s first intensive octopus farm, which would see hundreds of thousands of these hyperintelligent beings commercially reared in cramped tanks every year before being slaughtered for food—even though scientists have warned that they would endure intense and prolonged suffering.
Help stop these plans!
Intelligent, Complex, and Fascinating Animals
Octopuses feel joy and excitement but also pain and fear. They are extremely intelligent and have been known to use seashells for protection, steal food from traps set by fishers, escape from aquariums, and even decorate their homes. They communicate with one another through complex color changes and flashes that humans still don’t understand. Keeping them on farms would lead to unnatural aggression, cannibalism, injury, and death as they fight and struggle to escape.
Octopus Welfare? Think Again
Currently, there’s no legislation in Spain that protects octopus welfare, leaving these animals vulnerable to unscrupulous profiteers who could keep them in any conditions and inflict unspeakable pain and suffering on them that would go completely unchallenged.
Scientists have concluded that octopuses are sentient beings and that it’s impossible to farm them in a way that doesn’t compromise their welfare. Confining these fascinating individuals—or any other animals—to a barren tank is cruel.
At the end of their miserable lives, the octopuses would be slaughtered, experiencing horrific terror and pain as their brains are cut into or their heads are clubbed in.
Environmental Disaster
Farming octopuses is as unsustainable as it is inhumane. It would put yet more pressure on the ocean, because wild marine life would have to be caught to feed them, further depleting fish populations and disrupting the ecosystem.
Help Stop These Plans
Take action by urging the minister for agriculture, livestock, and fisheries of the Canary Islands to stop these plans.
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