A Fish Jumped Out of Water, and It Took Two Minutes for SeaQuest to Act

During a recent visit to SeaQuest in Folsom, California, a guest documented that it took approximately two minutes before staff returned a fish to water after the animal jumped out of an uncovered tank. The fall from the tank to the floor alone was enough to daze and disorient the fish—and then he or she was left to flop on the ground for a prolonged period of time outside of the water, likely suffocating.

The first employee who arrived at the scene did nothing to help the fish despite pleas from visitors to take some action. Another employee eventually arrived to retrieve the animal, but did not have proper equipment. She used her sweatshirt (rather than gloves and a net, which should be on hand at all times) to return the fish to the tank. The fish may have been exposed to a number of contaminates by being on the floor and handled in this way.

At the same site in California, just days before this incident, a stingray was found dead inside a tank where children were reportedly touching the animal's corpse. Visitors had to alert SeaQuest employees to the dead stingray.

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PETA's mission statement is that animals are not ours to experiment on, eat, wear, use for entertainment, or abuse in any other way:

[BUTTERsword]

Hello just remember that fish have slime coats which protects them from infections and if your to pick fishy wishy up your bare hands that may damage it more compared to using something that's been soaked in water. Only thing is that fish could've broken it's back from that fall but it from the looks of it, the fish must be in shock.

[Brandon-rubr]

The staff member wasn't trained to interfere with the animal. They followed protocol in the safety of the animal. Only staff who are trained can touch the animal.

[crygun]

Fish can survive quite a while without water, I’ve learned the hard way from fishing for pike

[willowidontknow]

My fish jumped out of the water early in the morning and nobody knew until an hour later. My dad found him dried up on the floor and not breathing but then he saw his mouth open and my dad put him back in the water. He’s alive!

[isabellavargas]

"I'm not trained to touch him." Then "trained" staff comes out wraps fish in sweatshirt then throws him back in....wow what class A Training

[tameronica]

So, the training they were talking about were just:

Step 1: Locate fish.

Step 2: Wrap fish with blanket.

Step 3: *y e e t*

[spikethefurry]

JUST PICK IT UP BRO!!
Honestly a young kid could do that this makes me mad animals life's matter

[lifeaslarry]

This is sad the least she could’ve done was poor some water on it

[yeetyeet]

She most likely wrapped the fish in the sweatshirt to not touch it because if you touch the slime that it needs to survive can be rubbed off. stop freakin out just because someone didn’t do something right away you don’t need to freak out Some fish can go 10 minuets out of water they can also use the slime to make there gills moist to breath properly again un tell they dry out and it’s not like the fish was in the sun.

[Jungle_Noodle]

I mean come on. No need to make a big deal there. Sure the individuals were kinda lazy. But the secretary for sure wont touch a fish she aint allowed to and doesnt even know if its poisonous.
And if I'm the staff there Id sure rush to the scene instead of carefully choosing which instruments I might need to get a fish into its tank.

[lofistudy]

One of the reasons fish jump out the tanks is that its water condition is not good so they try to find new places with better water quality.

[zezska]

Vegans overreact so much. It’s just a fish...

[dombower]

in the end the worker is not at fault. With no knowledge of the fish, they would not know if the fish is poisionous, venomous, has spikes it could stick into your hands, could pretend dead then spin round and bite, or even just how slippery it is and end up picking it up and dropping it again. it clearly is not a regular occurance and as an aquarium it is going to have some pretty whacky fish so I cant blame the worker, but can blame the tank builder for not making the sides big enough.

[shinygatorguy]

Jesus you guys act like it was a human being suffocating lmao.

[Adamski-xesu]

I dont know what to say...






If I would see a fish jumping out of his aquarium I would immediately grab him with my bare hands and put him back in the aquarium.

[TheNizoubizou]

I'm not trained to pick up a fish ! what a joke

[emsanimals]

The on lookers could have helped to if I was there I would have asked the lady which tank then thrown him in as quick as that it's like they didn't care cause it was a fish but if it was a let's say rabbit had got stuck in a pool and was drowning none of those people would have hesitated to pull it out its ridiculous poor fish I hope he's ok

[HelenaMikas]

That has to be the best line yet " I'm not husbandry I'm not trained at touching them " Say that to a human who falls on the ground and asks for help ... Some Samaritan she is ... Another video which shows why zoos etc should be closed by order, The noise plus stupidity of the staff are like hell *

[therarebreed]

She said minutes?! 😂 Jesus. I know they have to follow the rules, but I would have just grabbed it and threw in a tank. Poor guy was suffocating 😳

[relic]

the employee in red was annoying, yes, but who knows what kind of fish that was? the more experienced employee came along and didn’t even touch the thing with her bare hands. that fish was huge — it could’ve had sharp teeth, barbed fins, toxins, etc. the first woman should have gone for help immediately instead of just standing there, but this isn’t a viable reason to bash the whole place just because one person was being lazy and careless. the second lady was obviously shocked and concerned that the fish had been out of water for so long, and they all stood around to monitor him and see how he recovered. it was a freak accident that happened to have an untrained employee first on the scene, nothing more. you’re all acting like someone actively dragged the fish out of the tank and threw it on the floor themselves. dramatic much?