Octopus Attacks Child at Texas Aquarium, Staff Said 'She Was Playful'
Before anybody starts judging, this was an interactive exhibit where you're meant to touch the animals. This one though would not let go.
Many zoos, aquariums, and farms throughout the country offer different exhibits where you can touch the animals. Typically the animals are gentler creatures or very small in nature. The San Antonio Aquarium offers what they call 'Animal Encounters'. With your aquarium admission you can pet some of the animals or pay extra to feed some of them. For three tokens you can feed an American alligator, giant Pacific octopus, or a tamandua.
Britney Taryn shared the following video on her TikTok page of the incident that happened a few weeks ago at the aquarium. She says that her six-year-old son has visited this exhibit several times in the past and has never had any issues whatsoever. However, on this particular day, the octopus that you're allowed to pet, decided to latch onto her son's arm.
The suckers that are on the octopus tentacles refused to detach from her son's arm. Staff did their best to remove the creature, but several people had to be called over to try to help. It took five minutes to remove the animal and afterwards her son had several marks all over his arm from the suckers (Yes, that is what they're called).
The family does state that maybe this particular animal should be removed from the animal encounter exhibit. Just allow it to live in peace without any humans touching it. She's worried that another incident similar to this could happen to another child in the future.