Original Japanese version is here. 

Hello everyone.

I am an animal rights activist and I started this petition to ask Don Quixote, discount store chains in Japan, to stop displaying sea creatures in its stores. Many of you who live in Japan must have seen the fish tank at the entrance of a Don Quixote stores. Wild moray eels and tropical fish are on display, who used to swim in the wide ocean. They were captured and brought to put in the little tanks.

In an aquarium with no exit, animals repeatedly go down and up to find an exit, poking the wall of the aquarium with their mouth. (Please watch the video here. https://youtube.com/channel/UCmLP3Y7eZsHV1hqeCdpZXVg

When they stopped moving completely, they writhed in agony, and continued their stereotypic behavior (behavior due to stress that is not seen in the wild) for several months. I witnessed it again and again and decided to launch a petition.

Some of you may have seen animal behavior (stereotypic behavior) in zoos and aquariums, where they keep circling around in the same place, or conversely, they stop moving at all and twist their bodies in pain.

When I made a phone call to Don Quixote, they said that they could not comply with my request of stopping the exhibition of wild sea creatures at the moment. The only thing that can be done is to improve the environment of the tank. 

It is absolutely impossible to recreate the environment in the wild in an aquarium.

Even if Don Quixote stopped exhibiting wild animals, I don’t think customers would stop going shopping there. Don Quijote's products are more reasonably priced than any other store, and they have a wide range of products (everything you need for your daily life), so even if they removed water tanks, I believe that wouldn’t affect the number of customers.

I’ve seen a fish that keeps going round and round in the tank. When I went to see it an hour later, two hours later, three hours later, next day, the day after next, it still kept going round and round.

To me, it seemed that the fish was saying, “Why was I brought here? I want you to get me out of here, I want to go back to the sea.”

In the natural world, fish live in quiet places where there is no sound, so they are very sensitive to sound. At the Shinjuku south exit store, very loud music was being played right above the aquarium, and the moray eels were very distressed.

There were times when all the fish in the tank suddenly gathered in the center of the tank as if they were surprised, and everyone started to circle around in a panic. My ears started to hurt staying the area with huge sound even for a short period. It must be such a stress for sea creatures who are so sensitive to sound to be put in a tank and can't leave the place forever.

When I think about the suffering of sea creatures that used to swim freely in nature, one day they are suddenly captured by humans and trapped in an environment far removed from the sea, my heart aches and pains.

I believe that each and every creature has the same right to live freely and happily as humans do, and that it is unacceptable for human beings to capture and confine wild creatures.

In the aquarium, fish, moray eels are suffering. They are trying to tell us that they are in pain. Please watch the YouTube video. In the aquarium, there are many animals captured from the sea of ​​the Republic of Palau.

The Republic of Palau has many places registered as World Heritage Sites, and is said to be a paradise for fish and sea creatures, with sparkling coral reefs and emerald green seas.

Now that environmental destruction is progressing all over the world, we should stop capturing and exhibiting sea creatures in order to protect the marine ecosystem.

Let wild life stay wild. The place where these animals belong, the place where they live, is not in the aquarium, but in the sea. They were not born to be used to entertain humans.

What I would like to request from Don Quixote are: 1. Stop purchasing new sea creatures from traders. Do not add new fish or moray eels to the tank. 2. In the future, remove all the water tank from the storefront.

If you agree with the petition, I would be very happy if you could leave your thoughts and comments even if it is just a word! To add a comment, after agreeing, click on your own page (My Page) in your ChangeOrg account, and then click on the "Approved" item to display the campaign you have agreed to. So, if you click on the campaign and scroll to the bottom of the campaign page, you will see the "Comments from supporters" column.

Your comment will have a great influence on Don Quixote. Also, it would be appreciated if you could make a phone call to Don Quijote asking aquarium exhibition to be eliminated in the future and tell how much animals in the tanks are suffering. The animals are waiting for your "voice".