Finding Dory Could Spell Doom for Her Real-Life Counterparts

Disney's upcoming film Finding Dory will likely be a hit with kids around the world, and that's got fish-lovers worried. “Now that Disney knows the effect Finding Nemo had on clownfish, they should prepare for the effect Finding Dory will have on blue tang by doing their part to warn folks who see the movie," states an online petition that's gathered more than 60,000 signatures so far. The petition is asking Disney to run a PSA before screenings of Finding Dory. The Saving Nemo Conservation Fund says more than 1 million clownfish are taken from reefs every year and sold as pets thanks to the popularity of Finding Nemo, according to the Hollywood Reporter. That's led to the extinction of clownfish in certain areas.

The problem could be even worse for blue tang, which can't be bred in captivity. That means 100% of blue tang bought by and for Dory-loving children will come from the wild, and conservationists have no way of replacing them. “I really think Disney would not intend for their films to harm the actual animals their characters are based off, and adding a PSA at the beginning of the movie would be such an easy way to help prevent that,” Kelsey Bourgeois, who created the online petition, tells Fox News. Karen Burke da Silva, cofounder of the Saving Nemo Conservation Fund, tells ABC most people are unaware that the majority of the marine fish they're buying as pets weren't raised in captivity. A PSA before Finding Dory, which opens June 17, could change that. (Vandals may have killed one of the world's rarest fishes.)