End the Sale of Live Animal Keychains
BY KIMBERLY CHENG
Target: Zhou Shengxian, Chinese Minister of Environmental Protection
Goal: Ban the sale of keychains that contain live goldfish, salamanders, and turtles in China
Street vendors are selling live animals trapped in keychains in China as souvenirs. These souvenirs are becoming a new fashion trend, and should be banned. The animals are usually amphibians such as turtles, fish, and lizards, and are placed into small plastic bags that contain a liquid nutrient and oxygen that allows them to live up to “two months.” However, many of these animals die days later.
The animal bags, which are attached to metal keyrings, cost around $1.50 a piece. Buyers are convinced by vendors that the animals in these “live animal keychains” can sustain themselves from the nutrients in the water for many months. But the truth is these animals die from oxygen deprivation within hours or days. Without the ability to replenish their oxygen or nutrient levels, these poor creatures are left to slowly starve or suffocate to death in their little plastic bags.
Animals should not be kept in small plastic bags. These conditions are cruel. Thousands of these marine animals will die a slow death each year if this practice is allowed to continue. Sign the petition to demand that the Chinese government make the selling of live animal keychains illegal in China.
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