Live fish and small turtles sealed in plastic keychains have become increasingly popular items sold at subway entrances and train stations across China.
The living keychains containing Brazilian turtles or king fish swimming in colored water are considered good-luck charms by many Chinese, but animal protection groups are outraged and call them a perfect example of “pure animal abuse”. Business is booming according to Chinese online newspaper Global Times, which reports one fish and nine turtle rings have been sold in just five minutes, on Tuesday, at the Sihui subway station, in Beijing.
According to vendors, the colored water in the 7-centimeter-long keychains contains nutrients that allow fish and turtles to live inside for months. While that may be true, Mary Peng, cofounder of the International Center for Veterinary Services, says they couldn’t survive in the sealed bag for very long, due to lack of oxygen.
While animal rights activists are protesting loudly against the sale of living keychains, there isn’t much else they can do, because China only has a Wild Animal Protection Law – if the animals are not wild animals they fall outside the law’s scope. Until the law changes to protect all kinds of animals, activists can only appeal to people not to buy them, and hope the market will die due to lack of customers.
Although some people buy these bizarre keychains to carry around for good-luck, there are those who buy them just to free the poor creatures from their tiny plastic cage.
via Weird Asia News
One of the tags should be “animal cruelty”…
This is awful.
what can you expect on chinese men!?
Ok, I admit it IS cool, but it is ‘pure animal abuse’ because eventually the animals will die. They don’t get fed, they don’t get oxuygen, the water is never cleaned out. So basically they will die no matter what. -.-
just no. these animals have little to no room to move around. this is damaging their species and hurting them. animal cruelty, much? this needs to stop.
OMG this is so STUPID !!!!!!
I would like to walk up to the people doing this and say how would you like to be stuffed in a container you cant get out of and ate after you have died and was forsed to eat your waste just for survival ??
That is horrible. Whatever creature that is in the container is swimming around in their own waste and pee, while the retard chinese are “Oh, dont worry, it will live long time cause it has nutrient water!!!!!” Well, the nutrients run out sometime. And the fish would get sick eating their own body elimitants and they have next to no air, and the air in that is only enough to keep them alive a few /DAYS/ not months >>
I know this because I had fish in a full size air filled tank and the air bubble thing became unusable for whatever the reason, and some fish died in the few days it took to replace it, and they were perfect, healthy fish.
And isn’t half the world already complaining about how low a population turtles have? They make a few hundred turtle keychains and the population of turtles- well, bye bye poor creatures >:C
And what if the keys drop? Just because animals cant scream or say “ouch!” doesnt mean they cant feel pain, and what if you had the keys in your back pockets, and sat on them? *squish* There goes the creature >:C Also, keys can knock against them, hurting them.
Not to mention to stay healthy they have to have a place where they can swim and thrive. Maybe if they made these keychains openable and with water resistant tiny air holes, it might not be as bad, or if they made the keychains bigger too, and it came with a food pack so they didnt have to swim in their own waste, and if it came with instructions on how to clean the water.
Whoever made this should get trapped in a nearly form fitting air tight bag and be thrown from high places, (not enough to kill, more torture after dropping) hit with giant platforms of metal, and SAT ON. TO DEATH. See how they like it D:<
So I take it none of you guys eat meat? Cows and chickens have it much worse off
I hate anyone who buys one of these!!!
Sadism and sadist.
Well yeah the turtles are cruel there too big but those tiny ass fish? meh who cares its a fish! how many gold fish have been given out at carnivals …… ppl need to calm the F*** down
This is just SICK! I pray this market dies quickly so these poor living animals can stop having to suffer!!!
would you want to be a keychain?