Estee Lauder takes seahorses out of display
Animal rights protesters want Seahorse Ireland to stop supplying seahorses.
Cosmetics giant Estee Lauder has asked for live seahorses to be removed from its display at Dublin Airport following complaints that some of the fish had died.According to a report from the Dublin People, Dublin Airport Authority confirmed that a mechanical failure on a seahorse aquarium at an Estee Lauder shop in the airport caused a number of seahorses to die due to "suffocation".
Estee Lauder told the Dublin People that it obtained the seahorses from Seahorse Ireland, who produce the fish for the public aquarium and retail trade in captivity to reduce fishing pressures on wild stock. It says that it will no longer have the fish on display.
The death of the seahorses saw Dublin-based animal rights group Alliance For Animal Rights (AFAR) hold a protest outside the aquarium last week. The group says that seahorses are rare, protected species and should not have been used in the display. AFAR plans to put pressure on Seahorse Ireland to stop them supplying seahorses.
Seahorse Ireland says that it backed by the marine conservation groups Project Seahorse and the Seahorse Trust and its mission is to curb global demand for wild seahorses in all markets by producing them in captivity.
Kealan Doyle of Seahorse Ireland was reported as saying: "It was an unfortunate mechanical failure which led to the seahorses dying in the tank on this particular occasion. This is the first incident of any of the seahorses we supply actually dying like this.
"We are a reputable company and are recognised by the International Seahorse Trust. However, given this unfortunate incident, Estee Lauder took the decision that it would be best if all seahorses were removed from the tank."
Seahorse Ireland declined to comment.
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Matt Clarke: 11.10.2006Views: Read 17,379 times
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"In a famous store in Edinburgh the perfume company have a large freshwater tank full of african Cichlids in view to the passing public and the tank is alarming to look at if you're an aquarist.
Its got lots of coral sand as the substrate, nothing wrong with that Chilids like hard water.
However what is wrong is that it is massively over stocked and its got lots of large decorative dead seawater coral branches in there!
So with all the sharp and very pointy pieces of coral its no surprise to see that all the fish have wounds.
Some looked very serious.
"
Date: Thursday October 19th, 2006, 10:08 am
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 | Editor-in-Chief, Matt Clarke, writes the regular Interesting Imports column on rare and unusual fish in the UK aquarium trade. He's kept fish for 30 years and holds a degree, two higher degrees and two diplomas in fish biology, taxonomy and computational biology. |
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"This is another typical knee-jerk reaction, it has already been stated that these seahorses are bred in captivity for the purpose of protecting the wild populations. Holding a protest because of a mechanical failure doesn't make a lot of sense.
Posted by: Peter Mellett - 3 years, 1 month agoPerhaps backup systems should have been in place however unfortunately fish in captivity are vulnerable to these things and it is my opinion that showing rarer or endangered species in public aquaria is an important step in raising awareness about problems in population levels around the globe.
I disagree with the decision to stop displaying the animals but I can understand that it may have been a hit to the reputation of the particular aquarium and the easy option is to not keep them anymore.
I wonder what is to happen to the remaining seahorses?"
Date: Sunday October 15th, 2006, 10:19 am