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DawnWatch: PETA's Fish Empathy Project is first article in US News & World Report 1/10/04
For years, scientists made and shared the assumption that because their nervous systems are different from those of mammals, fish do not experience pain as we do. Therefore, not only did many otherwise vegetarian people continue to eat fish, otherwise compassionate people have fished, not just for food, but for sport, with "catch and release" fishing being a popular way to maintain lake populations. In some areas, the same fish might get caught between five or ten times. Recent studies, published in lead scientific journals, have demonstrated that fish do feel pain. But causing them pain for fun is still legal, as is killing them slowly, via suffocation, for food -- there is no Humane Slaughter Act for fish (nor for birds, in the USA).
A few months ago PETA launched the Fish Empathy Project. The group has a wonderfully informative website on the issue, with information on the environmental devastation wrought by commercial fishing and aquaculture, and on the cruelty of angling: http://www.FishingHurts.com
The campaign has received much coverage in the last week as PETA has asked ex-president Jimmy Carter to retire his rod. PETA suggests that the cruel sport is not in keeping with his Noble Peace Prize. And they refer to his first hand experience with having a hook caught on his face. The national magazine US News & World Report covered the issue in the January 10 edition, currently on newsstands. It is a short article, which I will paste in full below, but it is the very first article in the magazine, impossible to miss, at the head of the "Washington Whispers" page.
It reads:
"PETA has a beef with Jimmy Carter's fishing
"He's the most famous presidential angler since Herbert Hoover, but Jimmy Carter has so far avoided the wrath of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals. Not anymore. PETA's truce with the catch-and-release advocate is over, thanks to the ex-president's promotion of his new book, Sharing Good Times, the cover of which features a picture of Carter and his wife, Rosalynn, cradling fresh-caught Alaskan salmon. Carter opened the door to a hit from the fur-and-scales rights group when he told Jay Leno about the agony of having an errant hook yanked from his face as he was held down.
PETA says fish feel the same way. Now they want Carter to give up his rod and reel. 'Our hope is that this experience may have given you a little insight into the fish's point of view,' Karin Robertson, PETA's fish-empathy project manager, wrote to Carter. Unlike humans, adds PETA exec Bruce Friedrich, fish "can't go to the hospital." Carter's unlikely to listen, though. In a recent phone call, Carter said he was headed to Florida's Gulf Coast last week to fish for snook with his own flies."
That article is on line at:
http://www.usnews.com/usnews/issue/050110/whispers/10whisplead.htm
It presents a perfect opportunity for letters to the editor in favor of compassionate pastimes and cruelty free diets. It is nice to notice that the letters page is the only (non advertisement) page that comes before the Washington Whispers Page. US News & World Report takes letters at:
http://www.usnews.com/usnews/usinfo/infomain.htm (Select "letters to the editor" from the pull-down menu.)
Yours and the animals',
Karen Dawn
(DawnWatch is an animal advocacy media watch that looks at animal issues in the media and facilitates one-click responses to the relevant media outlets. You can learn more about it, and sign up for alerts at http://www.DawnWatch.com. If you forward or reprint DawnWatch alerts, please do so unedited -- leave DawnWatch in the title and include this tag line.)
The campaign has received much coverage in the last week as PETA has asked ex-president Jimmy Carter to retire his rod. PETA suggests that the cruel sport is not in keeping with his Noble Peace Prize. And they refer to his first hand experience with having a hook caught on his face. The national magazine US News & World Report covered the issue in the January 10 edition, currently on newsstands. It is a short article, which I will paste in full below, but it is the very first article in the magazine, impossible to miss, at the head of the "Washington Whispers" page.
It reads:
"PETA has a beef with Jimmy Carter's fishing
"He's the most famous presidential angler since Herbert Hoover, but Jimmy Carter has so far avoided the wrath of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals. Not anymore. PETA's truce with the catch-and-release advocate is over, thanks to the ex-president's promotion of his new book, Sharing Good Times, the cover of which features a picture of Carter and his wife, Rosalynn, cradling fresh-caught Alaskan salmon. Carter opened the door to a hit from the fur-and-scales rights group when he told Jay Leno about the agony of having an errant hook yanked from his face as he was held down.
PETA says fish feel the same way. Now they want Carter to give up his rod and reel. 'Our hope is that this experience may have given you a little insight into the fish's point of view,' Karin Robertson, PETA's fish-empathy project manager, wrote to Carter. Unlike humans, adds PETA exec Bruce Friedrich, fish "can't go to the hospital." Carter's unlikely to listen, though. In a recent phone call, Carter said he was headed to Florida's Gulf Coast last week to fish for snook with his own flies."
That article is on line at:
http://www.usnews.com/usnews/issue/050110/whispers/10whisplead.htm
It presents a perfect opportunity for letters to the editor in favor of compassionate pastimes and cruelty free diets. It is nice to notice that the letters page is the only (non advertisement) page that comes before the Washington Whispers Page. US News & World Report takes letters at:
http://www.usnews.com/usnews/usinfo/infomain.htm (Select "letters to the editor" from the pull-down menu.)
Yours and the animals',
Karen Dawn
(DawnWatch is an animal advocacy media watch that looks at animal issues in the media and facilitates one-click responses to the relevant media outlets. You can learn more about it, and sign up for alerts at http://www.DawnWatch.com. If you forward or reprint DawnWatch alerts, please do so unedited -- leave DawnWatch in the title and include this tag line.)
For more information:
http://www.DawnWatch.com
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