The “Space World” amusement park presented to the audience their new skate runway that included thousands of dead fish frozen under the surface.

The premiere of the attraction brought a wave of online criticism that forced the park to close its rink immediately. The online campaign denounced the attraction for being “immoral and cruel.”

The premiere of the attraction brought a wave of online criticism that forced the park to close its rink immediately. Photo credit: Nigeria Today
The premiere of the attraction brought a wave of online criticism that forced the park to close its rink immediately. Photo credit: Nigeria Today

The park, located in southern Japan in the city of Kitakyushu, was forced to suspend their skate activities this Sunday due to the pressure of the online campaign. The objective was to maintain it until spring, according to the amusement park schedule.

The official website of Space World claimed that this new incorporation to the park was the only one of its kind in the world. They offered in its Ice Aquarium a “glide across the sea.”

It featured about 5,000 dead sprats, mackerel and other types of sea creatures. The statement from the park was that they had bought all the fish from the local sea market and that all the animals were dead at the time of the freezing.

The fish were placed to spell the word “hello” and also to form signalization about the direction on which the skaters could guide from inside the runway. It also featured enlarged photos of rays and whales, that were placed beneath the ice surface.

“The real fish we used were provided wholesale from public fish markets, and these fish sellers are all aware of the purpose of this project. Many of these fish don’t meet standards for selling to customers. And the big fish like whale sharks, sharks, and rays aren’t real, they’re simply photos that were blown up and embedded in the ice,” the public relations representative of the theme park told reporters.

After the inauguration, the Facebook page of the park received an enormous amount of complaints from angry users that took conscience on the matter.

Actions from the Amusement Park

After the polemic, the representatives from the Space World amusement park pronounced on the matter. They first assured that the attraction was going to close immediately, after announcing that they will celebrate a memorial ceremony for the fish.

These actions were taken after the online campaign mentioned before suggested that the use of animals at entertainment events was “bad and poor.” One of the common claims also stated that food should not be wasted and used as a toy.

The General Manager, Toshimi Takeda, apologized publicly because of the incident. To calm the high amount of angered users, Takeda told CNN that after the unfreezing, the dead fish would be used as fertilizer.

They also announced that all the media regarding posts of the attraction are going to be deleted from the Facebook official page and the company´s website. However, this announcement didn’t  help a lot because the users in Facebook claimed that was a “disrespect” to nature itself.

The Space World amusement park has said that hopes to return the situation to normality and is looking forward to re-open the rink this December, but obviously with another concept.

Source: The Guardian