An autistic woman described by her family and friends as “lacking empathy” becomes excessively emotional at the thought of dolphin-safe tuna, according to reports.
Tricia Squire, 29, has been known to stand by awkwardly whenever someone cries in front of her, and she fails to respond to pregnancy announcements with the appropriate whoops and shrieks. In fact, Squire is hyper-empathic; the thought of dolphins being harmed in the process of tuna fishing makes her feel as though her heart is about to burst out of her chest.
She said: “I haven’t been able to eat a tuna sandwich for 20 years. Whenever I try, I just think of the dolphins, and then my tears soak through the bread and make the sandwich inedible. Which makes me even sadder because now I’ve wasted it.”
“I know that dolphins are creepy bastards, but the thought of them getting caught up in nets is unbearable. And they swim in the same water as tuna – what if they’re actually mates? What if I’m splitting up a beautiful and unlikely inter-species friendship every time I get a meal deal?”
Squire’s mother, Deborah Whitehead, said: “Maybe she’d call me more often if I was a bloody dolphin.”
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