Last week we announced a victory for a very special sea animal. On March 13, 2024, Governor Jay Inslee of Washington State signed the bill that has made octopus farms illegal in that state. Most people do not know that octopuses are sensitive animals who prefer to be alone. They are intelligent creatures who have complex mental abilities. In octopus farms they are crowded together and the terrible stress they are forced to endure causes death to many of them. The methods used to kill the octopuses in these inhumane farms include clubbing and freezing them to death.
Now, California Assemblymember Steve Bennett (D-38) has introduced A.B. 3162, The California Oppose Cruelty to Octopuses (OCTO) Act which will outlaw octopus farms on land or on water. Assemblymember Bennett is trying to stop the farming of octopuses before it can gain a foothold in California.
Please click on the following link https://findyourrep.legislature.ca.gov/ fill in your information to be taken to a site where you will find your California Senator and Assemblymember, click on your Assemblymember and you will be taken to his or her site where you can email them. Then cut and paste the following message:
I am writing to you to ask that you please support Assemblymember Steve Bennett’s bill A.B. 3162, the California Oppose Cruelty to Octopuses (OCTO) Act which will prohibit octopus farming on land or water and ban the import of farmed octopus in California. These delicate creatures who are intelligent and very sensitive need our help. They are treated brutally in octopus farms and those who survive the torment inflicted on them are savagely killed by being clubbed to death, sliced, or frozen. Let’s set an example for other states to also protect these animals who are often overlooked and not recognized as the harmless, intelligent creatures that they are. Washington State has already passed a ban on octopus farms and Hawaii has also introduced their own bill (H.B.2262) Octopus farming is bad for the octopuses and bad for the environment, causing antibiotic and pesticide run offs, and oxygen dead zones. This kind of cruelty and ecosystem destroyer is the last thing California needs. Thank you for your consideration.
And a big thank you for taking time out of your day to help protect these very special animals who are often overlooked but very much need our help.