Demonstrations Over Octopus

* Recently the Cabrillo Marine Aquarium, and my husband, Mike Schaadt (the aquarium’s exhibit director), have come under attack by animal rights activists. The aquarium is a wonderful, nonprofit, educational facility. Hundreds of thousands of schoolchildren have visited the aquarium since its beginning in 1935. They have many programs set up specifically to get these children excited about marine life.

My husband became a marine biologist because of his love of the ocean and all its creatures. He is a man of honesty and integrity, and is very well-respected in his field. He and the aquarium have been completely truthful in everything concerning the giant octopus they recently had on display and are very upset by its accidental death.

The animal rights groups, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) and Education and Action for Animals (EAA), in my opinion, have been far from open and honest. They purposely misinformed the public about the health of the animal and the reasons the aquarium was keeping it. They seem only interested in news media attention. From the media the aquarium found out about the protesters’ planned demonstrations, two at the aquarium, and most recently, April 13, at our home. They are not only disrupting the aquarium and Mike’s work there, but they are disrupting our personal lives.

Our oldest son was harassed when he was home sick from school April 12. This frightened him very much. Our younger children are afraid to go to bed at night. Our 7-year-old voiced the fear April 13 that these people were going to burn our house down while she slept. This is not something we would ever have said to her. This was her own perception of things she doesn’t understand.

It is bad enough that Mike has to deal with this at work when he has done nothing more than try to give others the chance to share his love for the ocean’s creatures. But I find it unconscionable that these people would bring this into our personal lives, frightening our children and disrupting our whole neighborhood.

There are legitimate animal rights issues. But in actions such as occurred April 13, these protesters are giving animal rights activists a very bad name. I just hope that in the future they can find a way to channel their actions to more legitimate issues in more appropriate ways.

CELESTE SCHAADT

Lakewood

* The octopus Octavia didn’t surprise me when she “pulled the plug” (April 12). This marine animal, which belongs to the class Cephalopoda , has the most complex brain and nervous system among invertebrates, making it belong to the most intelligent group of animals in the ocean.

Even though they like to hide in confined spaces, this doesn’t mean that they don’t need a large space for movement activities, foraging behaviors and other socially related behaviors. For the octopus to move, it needs enough room to be able to spurt water from its funnel, which propels it through water rather fast and elegantly. Color changes are controlled by the nervous system and hormones, which are mostly behavioral indicators for alarm or courtship demonstrations.

The color change of Octavia was a clear sign of distress that should have been recognized by the aquarium’s staff. Committing suicide was the only alternative to prison for this octopus. When will we learn to be responsible enough to not abuse our ability to make choices and stop punishing other species for our entertainment?

DANIELA ORTNER

West Los Angeles