On November 4th, 2019, my husband and I visited The Perot Museum of Nature and Science in Dallas, Texas. We were enjoying our trip until we came across a display in the “Being Human Hall" that greatly disturbed us and, quite honestly, changed our perception of the museum and it's intended objectives. This particular display houses a pufferfish (more specifically, a porcupinefish) and cleaner shrimp, with its intended purpose to show that humans and pufferfish share common DNA. What we saw though, was simultaneously heartbreaking, angering, and outright abusive.

Pufferfish require adequate environmental decoration, including caves, grottos and overhangs to provide shelter and hiding places. The pufferfish and shrimp at The Perot Museum though, live in a tank barren of environmental stimulation or shelter, merely existing in torturous isolation. The small amount of live rock and substrate on the bottom is a feeble attempt at recreating any sort of natural environment. The tank is housed in the center of a large open space surrounded by unnatural and terrifyingly bright lights, loud sounds and constant commotion, with no solace or escape. We stood there for some time as the pufferfish demonstrated clear signs of stress, repeatedly tracing the glass wall near the top of the tank. Directly above her, there is text that reads “Don’t make the puffer suffer.” It’d be ironic if it wasn’t so depressing. 

In our disgust, we decided to contact the museum and request that they cease using this display and to find the animals a compassionate, non-exploitive place to live. We even offered to assist in finding a sanctuary or rescue. We urged them to stand and witness the fish, not as a passing second thought, but with empathy. We asked that they truly consider the lives these animals are living and to consider the emotional capacity and intelligence of fish and the suffering they can endure. The museum declined our request and insisted the animals “consistently receive a sound bill of health”. 

We recently revisited the museum on February 9th, 2020 and the display remains. The pufferfish continues to trace the glass in the same exact location, over and over (and over and over... ) again, just as she was more than three months ago. These sentient individuals are living out a miserable existence, not for some awe-inspiring display of scientific outreach, but as mere side notes to a sentence on a panel about humans and pufferfish sharing DNA. This is completely unnecessary and inhumane. 

Please join us in signing and sharing this petition to urge The Perot Museum to end the unnecessary suffering of these two animals by permanently removing the display and releasing the pufferfish and shrimp to a sanctuary or rescue that will adequately meet their environmental and emotional needs, and to agree to cease using live animals in any future exhibits.