Film Causing Children to Flush Fish

by Sherry Morse

A large number of children have recently been unintentionally killing pet fish by flushing them down toilets after seeing or hearing about a scene in the currently playing animated movie "Finding Nemo" in which a clown fish returns to the sea via a spit basin in a dentist’s office.

Roto-Rooter dispatcher Margie Veladez, who lives and works in Valencia, CA, has received since the film was released several weeks ago approximately 70 calls from individuals wanting to know whether flushed fish can be saved.

"I hear kids crying in the background," Veladez told a Los Angeles Times reporter. "There’s nothing we can do. (The fish) are gone."

"I’ve had to explain to young kids that flushing (fish) doesn’t take (them) to where they would want to go," said Sasha De Marino, the manager of Aquarium Stock, a store located in Los Angeles.

"It’s a beautiful sentiment that kids are trying to free the fish, but it’s a bad thing," comedian and actress Ellen DeGeneres, who provided the voice of one of the fish in "Finding Nemo," stated.

© 2003 Animal News Center, Inc.