Tampa Bay's Major League Baseball team is no fan of the 'Rays, so says the animal rights activist group PETA.
PETA is asking the Rays organization to get rid of its cownose ray "touch tank" and set the stingrays inhabiting the tank free.
The group's latest complaint stems from a mammoth home run Detroit Tigers third baseman Miguel Cabrera hit on June 30 that landed in the tank, according to WTSP.com.
"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," said PETA Foundation Director of Captive Animal Law Enforcement Delcianna Winders said in a release to the media Wednesday. "When it comes to compassion, the Rays are batting .000."
The organization also stated that it had sent a letter to Rays senior vice president John P. Higgins. The Rays had not immediately responded to the request.
WTSP.com printed a copy of the letter from Winders, which started:
"I am writing on behalf of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals and its more than 3 million members and supporters, including more than 100,000 who live in Florida, to ask again that you please remove Tropicana Field's reckless and cruel 'touch tank,' where animals are confined to a small enclosure, subjected to constant reverberations from crowds, poked and prodded by up to 50 unfamiliar people at a time, and left unprotected from potential abuse. Your tank has the additional danger of being in a baseball stadium, where a ray could easily be injured or killed by an errant ball. Cruelty-to-animals charges could well result if and when a ball hits and injures or kills one of the rays. And as recent events have demonstrated, that threat is all too real."
PETA went on to complain of the Rays' offer of $5,000 to charity for any home runs hit in the tank. WTSP.com reported that the team denied any knowledge of such an offer, but PETA claimed that its website made mention of the offer "in at least four places."
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