Japanese Ice Rink Horror: 5,000 Fish Frozen into Ice
Space World, a space-themed Japanese amusement park, was forced to close a bizarre attraction that featured an ice-skating rink with some 5,000 animals frozen into the ice after being inundated with furious comments online.
Gimmick gone wrong: Japanese amusement park freezes 5K fish into ice rink, forced to close after wide criticism https://t.co/G0sXNx1nc3 pic.twitter.com/HRnTEECELt
— People’s Daily,China (@PDChina) November 28, 2016
The horrid exhibit, billed as the “Freezing Port,” featured thousands of fish, crab, and other shellfish corpses embedded into the ice for people to skate over. Some of the fish were frozen into patterns, including arrows and a message that read “hello.” The attraction was promoted as a “world first,” and hopefully after this public backlash, it will be the world’s last.
“Why is it fun to skate over the frozen?” a Japanese Facebook page called Relief Pain Animals said. “It is shocking that this kind of idea was taken up normally in Japan … This is the worst attraction educationally.”
Park officials denied that they used live fish in the exhibit and claimed that the animals were “provided wholesale from public fish markets.” Regardless of where the bodies came from, skating over frozen fish carcasses trivializes the animals’ suffering. As one commenter wrote, the park shouldn’t “make life into a toy,” while another called the exhibit an “insult to life.”
Fukuoka theme park shutters ice rink with frozen fish in wake of outrage https://t.co/1f0NRmgsCD pic.twitter.com/beU8GdmFcK
— Tokyo Reporter (@tokyoreporter) November 28, 2016
Fish are smart, interesting animals with their own unique personalities, and just like dogs, cats, and humans, they feel pain.
They can recognize individuals, use tools, and maintain complex social relationships. They also communicate with each other through a range of low-frequency sounds that express emotions such as alarm or delight and help with courtship.
Keep Sea Animals in Their Homes
It’s uplifting that people forced this frozen abomination to shut its doors. But we can all save billions of fish, crabs, lobsters, and other marine animals each year by leaving them off our plates. Already fish-free? You can help animals even more by sharing this page and asking your friends to join you in this pledge.
