It’s the weekend and you’ve been looking forward to going to the sea aquarium all week.
Finally! You can look at all the sea creatures that you love and be at peace as you watch them swim around.
You’re walking around and admiring the seals when suddenly, you notice something amiss.
And then, people start screaming and people start crying.
You take a look closer, and you realise you’ve just witnessed the death of a sea creature. Just like that. It died.
Now you might be thinking that that’s just some sadistic scenario that I conjured up, and I wish I could say the same, but unfortunately, it was something that really happened in Dalian’s Sun Asia Ocean World on 29 December.
What Happened
A video of the incident was recently shared on the popular video-sharing platform, Douyin, which is also known as TikTok in English.
The video shows a seal that has its head stuck in a drain as it tries to set itself free. Three other seals seem to notice their friend’s plea for help and they swim around it, occasionally nudging their friend to see if that works.
Visitors of the sea aquarium had no choice but to look on in horror as the seal continues to suffocate.
At one point in time, a staff member can be seen entering the waters and trying to pull the seal free by its tail.
Visitors watch on with bated breaths as they hope that the seal will be saved.
Sadly, after a period of time has passed, the staff member manages to pull out the once-alive seal and bring its body up to shore. The video then cuts.
Sun Asia Ocean World Responds
A day after the incident on 30 December, Sun Asia Ocean World released a statement on Weibo saying that the incident occurred the previous night at 11.25pm. The statement also said that the seal apparently used its mouth and claws to remove the drain cover, before accidentally getting stuck in it.
Professional trainers tried their best to save the seal’s life but were ultimately unable to. They are all saddened by the seal’s passing and will work harder to ensure the conservation and rescue of marine animals.
This is not the first time that Sun Asia Ocean World has appeared in the news.
The previous time was in June 2018 when a video of a staff member putting lipstick on a beluga whale surfaced.
This resulted in the criticism of Chinese netizens, which led to them releasing a statement and apologising for their mistakes.
