Washington state just took a major step forward to protect the intelligent, sensitive, wonderful creatures that are octopuses. Its legislators passed the world’s first-ever law to ban Octopus farming, which is fraught with cruelty and environmental hazards.
As the bill’s sponsor, state representative Strom Peterson, said: “Octopus farming leads to suffering and sickness for one of the more intelligent and feeling animals in our oceans. [It] is harmful to the animals and the environment and is unnecessary. It’s time to move on.”
Sign the petition to demand lawmakers in California and Hawai’i follow Washington’s incredible lead and ban octopus farming, too!
Octopus farming is cruel and wrong for a number of reasons. For starters, octopuses are incredibly smart, emotionally evolved, and prefer to live solitary lives, which makes captivity an excruciating environment for them.
Shoved together with many other octopuses, their survival instincts kick in and they start to demonstrate aggressive responses, to the point of self-harming. In some cases, captive octopuses have become so distressed, they have eaten off their own limbs. They live their whole lives like this… just to be killed in the end, to become someone’s meal.
It’s also terrible for the environment and health. Octopus farms seriously pollute the environments around them, dumping phosphorus and nitrogen waste, as well as other toxic contaminants such as fertilizers, into surrounding water sources.
These travel and spread easily along major water systems. On top of that, diseases can proliferate quickly within these enclosures, and then extend out to nearby wildlife populations.
That’s why we’re asking more U.S. states to pass laws protecting these incredible animals from such traumatic experiences. Two other states – California and Hawai’i – have also introduced legislation to ban octopus farming, but those bills haven’t passed yet.
Sign the petition to urge state lawmakers in California and Hawai’i to pass their octopus farm bans!
This article by Mathew Davis was first published by One Green Planet on 21 March 2024. Image Credit : Vittorio Bruno/Shutterstock.
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