i was with erika t. and one of her friends and we were on a road trip, or on tour. we were going through soviet eastern europe, i believe, and stopped at a roadside attraction. it was an aquarium where, at the end of the tour, the guests got to jump right into the tank and swim with the fish themselves. to maximize the comfort of the guests, however, the water was kept the temperature of a hot tub at all times. i protested to erika that most of those animals needed to live in temperatures that were single degrees celsius (converting from fahrenheit for her benefit) and she just kind of smiled like she knew but that this was too good to pass up. "i guess i just like having transcendent experiences," she said. "it's a hipster hobby."
i waited in line with her friend, filled with dread and anticipation. on top of it being inhumane, it was extremely unsanitary. the fish were do densely packed in the pool, which was one giant tank, that one was going to be knocking up against dozens of animals at any given moment. it was not limited to fish, but also contained octopi, and presumably eels, etc, any sort of aquatic animal this place could get its hands on. as we waited, the cleaning period was taking place, which happened every so often, like the zamboni on an ice skating rink, in which someone shoveled piles of fish out of the tank and threw them over a net, into a sort of strainer which strained out the dead fish but somehow let the living fish go. the dead then ended up in a wheelbarrow, but from there they didn't go far because there were piles of dead fish everywhere, creating natural barriers and even directing the flow of human movement. i was disgusted and apprehensive but fully planned to do it anyways, filled with anticipation as i waited in line. i knew the animals were miserable, but the octopus did look like it was hamming it up for the guests.
No comments:
Post a Comment