kilomonster:

wannabeanimator:

“[Finding Nemo made] $936.7 million worldwide at the box office, according to Internet Movie Database. And with the success, sales of clownfish, which are often taken from the ocean, rose by as much as 40 percent, according to Hakai magazine.

According to the Saving Nemo Conservation Fund, which da Silva helped found, more than 1 million clownfish are taken from reefs for home aquariums each year. Da Silva says more than 400,000 are shipped into the United States.

‘America is the biggest country in the world that purchases these tropical fish,’ da Silva says, and it’s an increasing problem. ‘Clownfish have gone locally extinct … in the Philippines, parts of Thailand, parts of Sri Lanka.’

On June 17, Finding Dory, the sequel to Finding Nemo, is set to hit theaters. This go-round, the story centers around a blue tang named Dory. Scientists are worried that the Finding Nemo effect will recur, this time with blue tang (and maybe even more clownfish, as the little guy from the first film will play a major role in the new movie).

‘The bigger concern is now with the royal blue tang, which is the species that Dory is, because 100 percent of the fish are being taken from the wild,’ da Silva says.

It’s not unusual for a film starring an animal to spark an interest in that animal. A year after the 1996 release of 101 Dalmatians, shelters nationwide saw a 300 percent increase in their Dalmatian populations, CNN reported, which was apparently attributable to impulse purchases of the breed after the movie’s release followed by buyers’ remorse which led to the breed being left at shelters.

And there were reports of a surge in owl sales – yes, owl sales – following the Harry Potter films (the birds deliver mail in the Potter world). Finally, even in teenage, mutant, ninja form, the protagonists in the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles movie helped spike turtle sales, according to The Hollywood Reporter.”

A prime example of audiences really missing the point of a movie. Don’t go buying fish for your five year olds because of a movie. I worked in a pet store. The needs of saltwater fish is pretty extensive, expensive, and downright abuse if you don’t put the work into it. And this goes for all animals, dammit!

So don’t do it. Don’t. Get Finding Nemo toys. Visit an aquarium. Don’t encourage fish traders to catch wild fish. Don’t buy pets without doing the research, saving and making a budget, and having a thorough plan (I did this stuff when I was 7 without the help of my parents, so this should be easy for an adult). This has been my environmental rant of the day.