DxE Direct Action Everywhere
July 2017
What was your life like before your rescue?
For years, all I knew was solitary confinement. Humans have bred bettas to
fight each other for sport, so I cannot share space with other males. Even
though humans are the ones who did this to my species, we are the ones who
suffer the consequences.
My ancestors lived in Asian rice paddies, but I have lived most of my life
in one small container or another. When I was shipped from the breeding
facility to the pet store, my captors kept me in a tiny plastic bag
containing barely enough water to keep me alive. I thought that nothing
could be worse than that, but I was wrong.
I was given a box to call my home. Two inches by two inches by two inches
was all I ever got to see of the world. They brushed off my enslavement by
half-assed references to our domestication, forgetting that they are the
ones who made us suffer like this.
My only interactions with other fishes were glances into adjoining boxes.
Everyone I saw looked too depressed to move. Sometimes my neighbors died,
and it would take the store owners days to notice because none of us swam
around much in the first place. I wondered how my captors would feel if they
were forced to stay right next to their dead and dying friends.
What’s your liberation story?
One day, everything changed. Two humans came into the store and picked up my
box. At first I thought they were just another pair of greedy customers,
come to shake me around and then put me back on that lonely shelf. But they
were gentle with me, and instead of taking me to be purchased like I’d seen
everyone endure before, they took me right out of the store, right out of my
hell.
They put me in a larger box, and even though it was only about three times
bigger than the previous one, it was the biggest place I’d ever lived. I was
overjoyed to be out of the store, but I was also overwhelmed with my new
surroundings and anticipation of what would come next. I was exhausted.
What is your life like now?
My new home, complete with real betta leaves and moss balls!
The day after my liberation, my new family put me in a twenty gallon
tank. I didn’t know what to do with myself! I swam lap after lap after lap
of the tank. The moment they put the heater in was the moment I was sure
that these people really loved me--not because they could make money off of
me, but because they just loved me as a person.
I had always been cold in the pet store, because we weren’t given heaters in
our boxes--even though to keep bettas healthy we should be kept in 80 degree
water. My new heater wasn’t the only amazing improvement though! My parents
also installed a water pump, a filter, a light, gravel, some plants, a
hammock, and a castle for me to hide in.
I was rescued six months ago, and even though these have been the happiest
months of my life, it hasn’t always been easy. I keep getting all sorts of
illnesses, and the medicine available right now is adequate at best. My
family is doing the best that they can, but they live in a world that would
rather flush fishes down the toilet than spend any money on research for our
diseases.
I have been making friends! A few months ago, my dad ordered some live
plants to add to my home, and there were snails on them! The snails have
since reproduced and multiplied, so now I can never complain about being
lonely!
One of my snail friends and me
How has your companionship impacted your new family?
Both of my parents had been outspoken about speciesism before my rescue, but
I think living with me has made them especially passionate about addressing
anti-fish speciesism. Humans don’t bond as easily with fishes as they do
with mammals or even birds, and so most of the time our struggles are
ignored, even within animal advocacy.
Recently, my parents have been learning a lot about the microsanctuary
movement, and have decided that they want to create the first fish
microsanctuary. Soon my tank will be one of at least four tanks, all home to
fishes experiencing freedom.
Why animal liberation?
Because nobody deserves to be kept in a box, and everyone deserves the taste of freedom.
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