Serbian Animals Voice (SAV)

Thailand: The eyewitness who took the photo saw a bucket of dead and live fighting fish. These animals were considered unprofitable because their caudal fin was damaged. One employee said they would be thrown into a canal or pond.

Scores of customers have complained of finding dead, sick, and injured bettas floating in filthy water on the chain’s store shelves.

PETA’s investigations of the pet industry have uncovered appalling neglect of betta fish even before they reach stores.

They’re often starved for several days during transport and are confined individually to tiny bags that are stuffed into boxes stacked up high in massive wholesale warehouses.

Many fish die before and during transport to retailers, which can take days, as they’re shipped all over the country. Industry insiders have confirmed that this system is a common practice for some retailers.

While some bettas are captured in the wild, the vast majority of those sold in the U.S. come from breeding farms in Thailand and other countries in Southeast Asia, where it’s common practice to keep them in small bottles.

When it’s time to pack them for transport, fish are haphazardly dumped into baskets covered with nets and scooped up into tiny plastic cups. Then, they’re packed up to be sent to the United States.

While workers sorted the fighting fish for transport, the animals were out of the water, writhing and gasping for air.

Segrest Farms, a Petco fish supplier, admitted that it sources bettas from Thailand.

For more…at https://worldanimalsvoice.com/2021/01/01/betta-fish-the-gruesome-delivery-from-thailand/

Additional Information: Thailand is one of the world’s most important export countries for fighting fish.

In 2019, an eyewitness from PETA took a look around Thai fighting fish farms that supply the global pet trade – including the German one. What he found was shocking conditions and cruelty to animals.

Many of the animals had died in the breeding tanks and were simply not removed.

At a Petco supplier, the eyewitness came across a bucket full of dead and live fighting fish.

One employee said these animals were not profitable because their caudal fin was damaged. She admitted that they would just dump them in a nearby pond or canal.

The eyewitness looked at a total of 10 establishments

In this company, tens of thousands of fish were kept in tiny, often dirty bottles. Due to the small amount of water, the ammonia produced by the fish’s excretions quickly accumulates and pollutes the water. The bottles were so close together that the employees could walk over them.

For worldwide shipping, fighting fish are packed without any food and sent on a journey of several days by air freight. A staff member told the eyewitness that sedatives would be put into the water to prevent the fish from trying to eat their own caudal fin.

According to an employee, a company that supplies Petco sends 100,000 fighting fish to the USA every week.

Up to 1,000 of them die before they reach the dealer.

The company EFS – Zoo buys Betta fish from Thailand from the company Q.P.S. International Aquatics Co. Ltd., which can be seen in this video at minutes 1’41 – 1‘59.