by Hugo & Greyson
Published February 27, 2025

Did you know that 74% of animals in zoos are bred in captivity? In places such as the Austin Aquarium they hold  animals captive.  At the Austin Aquarium, they keep the fish in small, overcrowded places and all visitors can touch any fish they want. People come into the Austin Aquarium not knowing what will happen if they get too close, which is a huge safety hazard.  One visitor was even attacked by a lemur during a visit in 2023. 

In 2022, a Peta investigator went undercover and saw that visitors went and touched and grabbed sensitive sea creatures. The Austin Aquarium encourages people to poke animals that would usually run away. They can’t run away because the tanks are overcrowded and it hurts the sensitive animals. According to the PETA’s article, on October 6th 2022 a kinkajou was reported for biting a child's hand. The founder of the Austin Aquarium pleaded guilty to animal trafficking that same year and also the Austin Aquarium was sued that year after a lemur bit a child, after which they found and documented a lot more violations.

In the 2022 PETA undercover investigation,  they saw that staff members were also bitten by the animals at the Austin Aquarium. The Austin Aquarium allows visitors to go close to a lot of animal species which have a lot of safety concerns. A UT graduate made a petition to shut down the Austin Aquarium and got over 55,000 signatures. The U.S. The Department of Agriculture officially warned the Austin Aquarium for visitor safety because animals were attacking the visitors.

According to peta.org, the staff at the Austin Aquarium lied to the people who were giving them medical treatment about which animal hurt them so there might not be a formally reported attack. The Austin Chronicle states "’There's a lot that's on full display for the public to see as soon as they walk in the doors of this facility, [and] there's a lot happening behind the scenes that is horrific and cruel.’" The Austin Aquarium also denies veterinary care so their animals have to live in cruel conditions. The owner of the Austin Aquarium has had hundreds of problems with both injuries and death. Because we are allowing the Austin Aquarium to still run, we are letting them abuse animals, and hurt children and visitors.

 The family that owns the Austin Aquarium is the Covino family, and it is cruel to let this go on, so we have to put a stop to this. By stopping it, we can help save animals and potentially stop injuring and hurting humans. If this goes on, we are treating animals no more than objects that we watch for entertainment. How would you feel if you were locked up in a cage that is barely no bigger than you are, with diseases that you can’t cure, and people grabbing, poking, and hurting you? When you think of a community, it can include animals, too. We can save lives.