CNN In one of the more bizarre stories in MLB this season, the Tampa Bay Rays are in hot water with People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, more commonly known as PETA.
According to Rick Mayer of the Tampa Tribune, PETA is none too thrilled with the team’s 10,000-gallon tank filled with 30 cownose rays.The complaints have come in response to Miguel Cabrera becoming just the second player in history to blast a home run into the “touch tank” out in center field. The ball that hit the water is said to have put the rays in serious danger.
Mayer quoted PETA’s director of captive animals law enforcement, Delcianna Winders, in an official statement about the situation:
The rays held captive at Tropicana Field not only were traumatically taken from their vast home waters but also are subject to harassment, loud crowds, and even baseballs capable of seriously injuring them.
Winders also wrote to the team, saying, “as recent events have demonstrated, that threat is all too real.”
The team had no comment on the situation, according to Mayer, but common sense would dictate that a strongly worded letter and an official statement won’t be enough to tear down the attraction.