Cheer Up Charlies
Sharks and Stingrays Exploited by Club
RECEIVED Mon., Nov. 5, 2007
Dear Editor,
It's hard for me to believe that in Austin, a city conscientiously aware and progressive, a nightclub proprietor would conceive a place like Qua Bottle Lounge. But it's here.
For those of you who do not know this club – they have imported sharks and stingrays and confined them to an aquarium underneath the dance floor.
Marine biologists are aware of the immense suffering and slow deaths that result as marine animals are kept in captivity. Elasmobranch fish do not survive in captivity. They are intelligent and complex in their behavior. Their natural environment is constantly changing and challenging, stimulating them neurologically. Even the best man-made habitats cannot replicate their world, therefore captive sharks and rays are deprived of their stimulus-rich environment. The artificial confinement and limited swimming space are so alien and restrictive that their metabolism begins to shut down. They refuse to eat and subsequently starve to death. Or they cease their active swimming, resulting in suffocation.
Close your eyes and imagine yourself held captive inside four walls. If that isn't unnatural and torturous enough, now imagine bright lights and noise above you and bass drones surrounding you. Imagine yourself trapped inside those four walls until you die of suffocation, starvation, or madness. Whichever comes first.
The owner tries to justify his actions by labeling the enclosure a "shark exhibit.” There is no educational value. There is no conservationist value. Qua has one and only one value in mind – profiteering at the expense of living, breathing creatures captive for the club's decor.
For anyone to witness, stand by, or ignore this suffering of animals is not only heartbreaking but shocking. Please do not patronize this nightclub. Too many times we stand idly by as this sort of inhumanity happens right in front of us.
If you care, even a little, do not allow this type of treatment to animals in our city. Make it clear to this owner that if he wants to be a part of the Austin nightlife, animal cruelty does not fare well in this progressive city. Show him that we as proud, thoughtful, advanced Austinites are different and we do not condone cruelty for profit.
It's hard for me to believe that in Austin, a city conscientiously aware and progressive, a nightclub proprietor would conceive a place like Qua Bottle Lounge. But it's here.
For those of you who do not know this club – they have imported sharks and stingrays and confined them to an aquarium underneath the dance floor.
Marine biologists are aware of the immense suffering and slow deaths that result as marine animals are kept in captivity. Elasmobranch fish do not survive in captivity. They are intelligent and complex in their behavior. Their natural environment is constantly changing and challenging, stimulating them neurologically. Even the best man-made habitats cannot replicate their world, therefore captive sharks and rays are deprived of their stimulus-rich environment. The artificial confinement and limited swimming space are so alien and restrictive that their metabolism begins to shut down. They refuse to eat and subsequently starve to death. Or they cease their active swimming, resulting in suffocation.
Close your eyes and imagine yourself held captive inside four walls. If that isn't unnatural and torturous enough, now imagine bright lights and noise above you and bass drones surrounding you. Imagine yourself trapped inside those four walls until you die of suffocation, starvation, or madness. Whichever comes first.
The owner tries to justify his actions by labeling the enclosure a "shark exhibit.” There is no educational value. There is no conservationist value. Qua has one and only one value in mind – profiteering at the expense of living, breathing creatures captive for the club's decor.
For anyone to witness, stand by, or ignore this suffering of animals is not only heartbreaking but shocking. Please do not patronize this nightclub. Too many times we stand idly by as this sort of inhumanity happens right in front of us.
If you care, even a little, do not allow this type of treatment to animals in our city. Make it clear to this owner that if he wants to be a part of the Austin nightlife, animal cruelty does not fare well in this progressive city. Show him that we as proud, thoughtful, advanced Austinites are different and we do not condone cruelty for profit.
Deidre Koch
