Stingrays are kept in touch pools and display aquariums globally. Their welfare in captivity raises questions about appropriate housing, handling stress, and the ethics of interactive exhibits.
Stingray welfare in touch pool exhibits presents a clear welfare concern: studies showing elevated cortisol, preference for visitor-free zones, and the structural injury of tail spine removal all indicate that these animals are under significant and ongoing stress from the interactive exhibit format. The widespread popularity of stingray touch pools reflects their commercial value to aquariums, not their welfare appropriateness. Aquariums that use interactive formats have welfare obligations to demonstrate through behavioral and physiological monitoring that animals are not chronically stressed, and to provide refuge areas that allow escape from interaction. The removal of defensive spines to make touch pools safer for visitors is a welfare compromise on behalf of the animal that deserves explicit ethical examination.