Big Blue, a blue tang, was the sole survivor after her 180-gallon reef tank was smashed last month. Photo by Steve Klamkin, WPRO News.

WPRO Newsroom

The Animal Rescue League (ARL) of Boston is offering a reward of $1,000 for information leading to the identification, arrest and conviction of the people responsible for the vandalism and killing of more than two dozen exotic fish and coral at Animal Instincts Aquarium and Pet Center in Fall River, Mass.

Surveillance footage taken inside the store on Wednesday, February 20 shows a pipe-wielding vandal smashing fish tanks, including a 180-gallon reef tank that house a female Blue Tang. The Tang, called Big Blue, miraculously survived despite spending several hours in the corner of her smashed tank.

"I think it's mean spirited, it's cold, it's heartless, it's thoughtless," Dr. Martha Smith-Blackmore, vice president of Animal Welfare at the ARL of Boston, told WPRO Wednesday.

Smith-Blackmore told WPRO that the act was "beyond vandalism" because so many aquaitic creatures suffered and died.

The owner of Animal Instincts had originally offered a $700 reward, but those at ARL upped the amount. If the vandals are apprehended and found guilty, tough animal cruelty laws in Massachusetts could land them up to five years in prison, as well as fines.

“Malicious destruction of the aquarium reef habitat is in fact a wanton act of cruelty towards animals and it is appalling,” said Smith-Blackmore in a statement. She said surveillance video shows the perpetrator removing shards of glass from the tank to allow more water to flow out, a sign that they had "willful intention to inflict harm."

She told WPRO Wendesday that "a fish out of water is like a human being out of air."

Anyone with information about this case is urged to contact the Fall River Police Department at (508) 676-8511 or the Animal Rescue League of Boston’s Law Enforcement Department at 617-226-5610 or 617-426-9170.