A mother is calling for change at the San Antonio Aquarium after an octopus latched onto her son’s arm during and interactive exhibit.
Britney Taryn took her son Leo and his brother to the San Antonio Aquarium on July 14. The mother says they have visited the aquarium multiple times since 2022, and they are encouraged to touch the Octopus. But the mother says this time was different from their previous encounters.
“Leo put his arm in the tank, the octopus wrapped his tentacles around him and wouldn’t let go,” Taryn said. “So, I tried to get Leo down and get out of there, but the octopus came over the tank with us.”
Taryn screamed for help. The mother says no employees were nearby.
“When the first employee wasn’t able to remove the tentacle from him, he called for backup,” Taryn said. “They brought ice packs to distract the octopus. It was about 5 minutes according to the time stamps on my pictures. Leo stayed around to see if the octopus was ok.”
The octopus left suction bruises on Leo’s arm, but the 6-year-old says the only pain he feels is for the octopus.
“We have now learned that this octopus is senescence so it’s not probably going to be around for much longer,” Taryn said. “So, we did go say goodbye to it to make sure he had a chance for closure. Our biggest goal is to save this octopus and the animals in the aquarium.”
We went to the San Antonio Aquarium for comment and were told to e email them a request for information. We did so and we have not heard back.
We also reached out to the director of ectotherms at the San Antonio Zoo to learn more about octopuses’ behavior.
Craig Pelke says octopuses are normally gentle.
“Based on my experience and what I saw the octopus was possibly overstimulated,” Pelke said.
We looked into the aquarium’s latest inspection report form the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The San Antonio Aquarium was found to be in compliance.