July 25, 2016

32,000 Call on Petco to End Sales of Wild Blue Tang “Finding Dory” Fish

Demand for the Threatened Fish Species Surges After Disney’s Popular Film Sequel, “Finding Dory”

More than 32,000 members of SumOfUs, an international corporate watchdog, have signed onto a new petition calling on Petco to discontinue its sales of wild Blue Tang fish as pets. Demand for the Blue Tang fish has surged following Disney’s release of the film, “Finding Dory.”

VIEW THE PETITION HERE: https://actions.sumofus.org/a/petco/

Local Blue Tang populations are already threatened in the Indo-Pacific due to illegal collection, as they are difficult to breed in captivity.

“The only way for breeders to meet the growing demand for Blue Tang fish as pets is to illegally remove them from their natural habitats,” said Toni Preston, campaigner for SumOfUs.* “As you can imagine, this is a detrimental threat to sea life, as Blue Tangs are natural cleaners to our oceans’ coral reefs and their surrounding habitats. If Petco continues to sell the wild-caught Blue Tang as pets, our coral reefs will become even more vulnerable to the effects of climate change.

“That’s why 13,000 Petco customers are asking Petco to stop selling wild Blue Tangs as pets. Our oceans can’t afford it. Petco can,” added Preston.

SumOfUs has a history of leveraging consumer power to protect the world’s precious coasts. Last year, SumOfUs members successfully pressured HSBC Barclays and other major investors to pull out of funding a coal mine project that threatened the Great Barrier Reef in Australia.