A great white shark died just three days after arriving at the Okinawa Churaumi Aquarium in Japan. He was taken from his ocean home on January 5—and was dead by January 8.

He was the only captive great white in the world. WTF is wrong with people?

The great white shark at the Okinawa Churaumi Aquarium swam in endless circles around the tank, refusing to eat as visitors gawked at him during his three miserable days there. ?

A worker at the aquarium told The Wall Street Journal that the animal wouldn’t eat and was crashing into the tank walls. On the third day of his imprisonment, the shark suddenly sank to the bottom of the tank, and attempts to revive him failed.

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Freeimages.com / Jon Fletcher 
Aquariums and marine parks are part of a for-profit industry built on the suffering of intelligent individuals. Many great white sharks who had previously been kept in captivity also deteriorated quickly and died at the Okinawa facility, and orcas, dolphins, and other animals suffer and die at aquariums all the time—often years or even decades short of the ages they could have reached in the wild.

The shark was obviously extremely stressed as a result of having everything that was natural and important to him taken away, which was clear from his weakened condition and abnormal swimming behavior. The cause of his death is obvious: captivity. He did not have to die like this. 🙁

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Shark | Steve Garner | CC by 2.0 
In the ocean, great white sharks can grow to more than 20 feet in length, swim at speeds of more than 30 miles per hour, and cover distances of thousands of miles each year—essential aspects of life that they lose in captivity, with deadly consequences. No great white shark has ever survived in captivity for even a year, but Okinawa subjected this latest shark to misery anyway … smh.

What You Can Do

Don’t go to aquariums, marine parks, or zoos, where animals are treated like money-making objects. What can you do instead? Go whale-watching, scuba diving, or snorkeling to see animals without harming them.

Pro tip: Take action for all animals today by joining peta2!