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Octopuses are remarkable animals. They can change colors and make patterns in an instant, and they jet out ink to escape predators. They have eight arms, three hearts, and no bones. The latest research even suggests that they can feel light.

Octopuses are also considered one of the smartest invertebrates on Earth. Curious, clever, and independent, these animals are known to use tools, manipulate their environment, fool predators and prey, and escape the most precarious of confines.

These animals deserve to live wild and free in the ocean, where they belong. But now, octopuses are under threat from entrepreneurs looking to factory farm them. Mass farming octopuses would be especially cruel. Solitary, intelligent, and fragile, octopuses would likely be frustrated and bored in crowded tanks and get easily injured or killed from crashing into tank walls, fighting, human handling, and changes in water properties. Early trials of octopus farming have shown that about one in five octopuses die before reaching slaughter for market.

Factory farming octopuses would also have devastating effects on wildlife. Octopuses are a carnivorous species who must eat three times their bodyweight to survive, meaning that millions of fish would need to be caught and killed from the wild to sustain the farm, worsening overfishing and potentially killing marine mammals, sharks, sea turtles, and other wildlife in bycatch and ghost nets.

Thankfully, this urgent issue is gaining attention worldwide. In the U.S., California and Washington have banned the cruel confinement of octopuses in commercial farms thanks to legislation supported by Compassion in World Farming. And in August of 2026, news broke that plans for the first commercial octopus farm have been abandoned by Spanish seafood company Nueva Pescanova.

Help us keep up the momentum to ensure octopuses never suffer the cruelty of factory farms.

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Octopuses need your help

These brilliant sea animals are at risk of cruel confinement in commercial farms.

Factory farming causes immense animal suffering, wastes vital resources, and pollutes the environment. We should be ending this dreadful industry, not farming new species.

Will you add your name to the petition to ban octopus farming across the U.S. and around the globe?

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Stop a cruel new industry before it starts.

To U.S. and world leaders:

Octopuses are at risk. Please protect wildlife and our coastal communities.

We ask for your urgent action to ban octopus farming, which would in turn prevent environmental destruction, the degradation of coastal towns, and immense animal suffering. There has been emerging interest in mass farming these animals as a luxury seafood product. However, farming these animals raises serious environmental and economic risks and thus must be addressed before it is too late.

Previous octopus farming endeavors have touted doing so in the name of conservation, but evidence shows that octopus farming does more harm than good. Octopuses are carnivores and must eat three times their bodyweight to survive, meaning that octopus farming would exacerbate overfishing. This is harmful for not only wild octopus populations, but also for other wild species and small fishing communities who rely on sustainable fish populations for their livelihoods.

Commercial octopus farming is currently in development by some companies globally, but initial environmental assesments of farming proposals predict dire consequences:

Exacerbation of overfishing and increased bycatch deaths of marine mammals, sharks, sea turtles, and more
Pollution of local water bodies from discharged wastewater and chemicals, harming people and wildlife
Intensive energy and water use, draining local communities of their limited resources
Negative impacts on coastal communities, small businesses, and tourism

Additionally, the octopuses in these farms would experience:

Boredom and frustration from being trapped in crowded, barren tanks
Injuries from crashing into tank walls, human handling, and aggressive interactions with other individuals
High mortality rates
Long and painful deaths, since there is no scientifically validated method of humane slaughter for octopuses

Octopuses should be in the ocean, not in farms.

Please use your leadership to make sure octopuses, wildlife, and local communities don't suffer. Stop octopus farming before it's too late.

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