PETA Global Issue 2

THE BIG FISH UE Fish Illustration: © iStock.com/danleap | Octopus Meal: © rdegrie

Eaten Alive A PETA Exposé

A n octopus named Inky made a daring escape from the National Aquarium of New Zealand last year. He saw an opportunity and seized it: When the lid of his aquariumwas left slightly ajar one night, the clever cephalopod apparently climbed to the top of his tank, slid down the side, and scrambled across the aquarium floor to a drainpipe that was 146 feet (44.5 meters) long and led to the sea – and freedom. Octopuses are sometimes called the “primates of the sea,” and examples of their ingenuity and intelligence abound. One of them, named Otto, at a German

aquarium alleviated his boredom by playing with hermit crabs and periodically “redecorating” his tank by rearranging everything in it. He repeatedly extinguished an annoying spotlight above his tank by squirting it with a jet of water, short-circuiting the power to the entire building. Yet at some restaurants, these smart and sensitive animals are hacked apart while still alive for a barbaric dish called “sannakji” (literally, “wriggling octopus”). Limbs Cut Off, One by One PETA went inside restaurants in Los Angeles and New York that mutilate and serve live animals. At T Equals

Fish, chefs held down an octopus – nicknamed “Pearl” by an observer – and sliced off most of her sensitive arms and legs with a butcher knife. The severed limbs, which continued moving and reacting to stimuli, were served still writhing to diners. But Pearl’s suffering was far from over. Kitchen staff explained that she would be kept alive until another customer ordered the remaining limbs. Struggling helplessly and trying desperately to escape, she was pushed to the side like a halved tomato. The chef said that after every last arm and leg had been cut off, he would rip open her mantle, tear out her intestines, and leave her to die.

6 COVER STORY