Coral vandals!

[Faciosity]

I have seen several instances in the past year where people have vandalized aquatic stores by poisoning their tanks. It is very sad to see this weekly update e-mail that I just received:







Your Saltwater FantaSeas Weekly Update





We have some very somber news to share with you this week. As some of you already know, we were the victim of a severe attack of senseless vandalizm on Tuesday.

Someone entered the store at approximately 3:45 pm and while Austin and myself were busy helping customers, proceeded to pour copper in our coral system and our show tank. This resulted in the death of all of our acropora and a large part of our lps, soft corals, and clams. We do not know who is responsible but we are offering a $1000.00 reward to anyone who can provide information that leads to a conviction.

Our losses from this are in the thousands not to mention the hundreds of senseless deaths of living creatures. Obviously it has been a very somber week as we have lost corals we have had for years. If anyone has any information about who might have done this, please let us know.

We have made efforts to recover from our loss, and although our coral selection will be limited for a short time, we have received a very nice shipment of fish that we have not had in quite a while. Some examples are chevron tangs, achilles tangs, baby powder black tangs (unbelievably cute), labouti fairy wrasses, mystery fairy wrasses, lineatus fairy wrasses, etc.

 

[halmus]

I don't have words to describe how mad this makes me. I'll keep it family friendly and just leave out what I would like to see happen to the vandals. Is this some growing trend of activists protesting the hobby? Or is it just the senseless actions of young stupid kids looking to destroy something?

 

[IPisces]

They should watch everyone that comes in over the few days after, because I feel the person(s) that did this will be back to see what they did.
And...I'm with you Halmus.

 

[Derbird]

This is a truly horrible crime. And unfortunatly they are not the only ones. Earlier this week Ocean in a Box in Vancouver had the same thing happen.

There is an active thread on the PNWMAS about this. The thought on there is would activists know that copper is so harmful to reef life? This knowlage seems to be known mostly to those in the hobby. Activists would be much more likely to use bleach.

It is sad to see how little regard some people hold for life

 

[Skimmy]

activists my ass....
my money is on competing saltwater shops,
or disgruntled customers/ex girlfriends.
some people in this biz are ruthless.

 

[halmus]

So here are the scenarios:
1)All the guys down there are dating the same bat-sh@@ crazy girl. They all frustrated her at the same time, so she's systematically going around and hitting all of the; shops that sell higher end coral

2)All the shops have ticked off the same guy to the degree that he's willing to kill hundreds of animals at the cost of thousands of dollars to the shop and at the risk of being prosecuted for his crimes.

3)One shop down there has it out for the rest of them. I've been to the shops down there. I've spent quite a bit of time talking over the hobby with the various owners. There's only ONE major shop down there left that hasn't been hit.  Or they have and I haven't heard the news yet. They're in Toulatin. I guarantee they didn't do it. They had NO competition before all this happened. Saltwater Fantaseas was a nice shop, not nowhere near the level of its competitors. Ocean in a Box is an awsome little shop, but very small and not a good location, about 40 miles north of Toulatin.

4)I guess I just have the image of activists (Occupy Seattle) running around in Nikes breaking out the windows of the NIKE store stuck in my head. Or the image of morons standing above a crowd throwing bricks....into a crowd of people that are supposedly protesting for the same thing. Or, Occupy Cleveland where 5 anarchists were arrested for plotting to blow up a bridge. Some activists are morons. Others are college educated morons. Oregon is full of inteligent morons who would stop at nothing to see the hobby shut down. The means justify the ends to people like this.

 

[Faciosity]

I agree mostly with scenario number 4. Activists will do there research if they are willing to go through with something like this.

 

[halmus]

I suppose I should hold my tongue. I really don't mean to be inflammatory. I am absolutely in support of people's right to speak their mind and try to bring public awareness to whatever issue they feel strongly about. It's irrelevant whether I agree with them or not, whether it's an "occupy" member or someone who feels strongly about shutting down the aquarium industry. Through peaceful discourse and confronting the facts on issues, we can move forward. All to often proponents on every side of the issue are conveniently ignorant of the relevant facts. We all realize the perpetual harvesting of corals from the wild is unsustainable, which is why so many of us purchase only corals that have been grown "locally". Which is also why, stores like Ocean in a Box also support the same strategy by buying from the public, and selling back to the public. Whoever this person or persons is/are, they need to be educated... and then bring them by my house for further education.

 

[Skimmy]

dont even get me started on the occupy movement... lulz
just because the fake media focuses on a bunch of most likely fabricated(probably police/agent provocateurs)
clips and sound bytes of "protesters" in an attempt to marginalize100's of 1000's of normal,
average folks who want to stand up for freedom from banking/government tyranny
is no reason to buy into the non truth that is reported.
and to have a knee jerk reaction to blame activists for this seemingly spreading aquaria tragedy,
only tells me that the media has done there job well.
I cant think of a single "activist" who would kill hundreds of innocent creatures in the name of a cause or freedom.
Who needs police when we ourselves make outcasts out of critics of the government/financial powers.

i also have to ask, why does a retail store not have security cameras installed??
at least then the perp would be somewhat identifiable.

 

[halmus]

I apologize for going down that road Skimmy. Have a good Memorial Day.

-unsubscribed.

 

[Skimmy]

no apologies necessary mang,
im just sayin'...

 

[Faciosity]

I am not trying to point any fingers either, just feeling horrible for the people and the animals involved. I just hope justice is brought upon the person who did this, for whatever selfish reason they had. Nothing good could have came out of this regardless of the motive.

 

[returnofsid]

Saltwater Fantaseas got hit and the mention of a Vancouver location probably refers to OIAB. Vandals destroy $40K in aquarium coral, fish | KREM.com Spokane

 

[senji]

this was some1 who knew copper would destroy coral and inverts. im betting competition or a pissed off reefer who was unsatisfied but never exclude the possibility of crazy ex girlfriends just ask rothany poor guy.

 

[str8juizy]

I think this is horrible. I heard about the one in Vancouver last week from a reefer friend. I don't think any activist would actually kill the creatures they were trying to protect but then there are always the crazies. On another somewhat related note, there have been people reported stealing corals from peoples tanks. I had a guy come over to buy some corals and he told me he was starting over because someone off of craigslist came over to buy something and when he went outside to grab a bucket, they guy stole most of his corals and ran. I have heard this happening to other people too. Be careful who you let in your house and never leave your tank unattended! So sad!

 

[LostCreekReefer]

Interesting thread. I am a veterinarian and I was going to post something about this episode as I just found out about it...to my surprise, the thread is already here! In my profession I see people that don't like other people eating meat...or wearing fur...or people that get mad at a neighbor/Ex/barking dog so they commit acts of vandalism, violence or what ever, or go so far as to direct these acts against an an animal to the point that they poison or shoot (with a gun) the animal. Yes, they take it out on an animal when they are mad at a person. I have rather strong feeling about this, having seen it enough times (like probably once again today) that it REALLY PISSES ME OFF! It would be great to find the perpetrators that wantonly killed these animals for no good reason. Rather than have law enforcement show up I will not vocalize what I think should be done:exclaim: I will simply say that I do hope they find the folks responsible & prosecute them to the fullest extent of the law. (I am a former Oregonian, hiding out in Montana...'nuff said!)

 

[janky]

This is sickening.
If it IS activists, what the hell is the logic in killing an animal that you're trying to save?!?! Doesn't make a bit of sense.

A pissed off reefer/ex-employee/or just some destructive college kid who learned what copper does to corals in a bio class... that I could see being a likely culprit.
I don't think an ex gf would hit multiple shops

Either way, I sincerely hope justice is served FAST before it happens to any other innocent animals. This is just so sick and ridiculous...

 

[N1Husker]

I just don't get it, maybe because I love life so much, it doesn't matter if its people, fish, mammals, or corals. Why senselly kill something when it can give such joy. It makes no sense to me and it makes me sad. Sorry for the loss.

 

[kpiotrowski]

I'm gonna place my money on some newb who thinks he gonna make it big selling corals and is trying to take out the competition. so, he is local enough, prob has newly a developed online store. this is a crime that otherwise would be considerd highly peronal in nature which leads you to ask why more than one store?

all I know is is where I want to stick a large arco colony in them!