Written by PETA
Groovin' on a Wednesday morning—these affectionate animals make this summer feel like the summer of love.
Written by Michelle Sherrow
PETA's giant Freeda Fish was caught trying to sink a Lake Ridge, Virginia, "Fish Out." The Lake Ridge Parks & Recreation Association dumped 750 rainbow trout into a swimming pool, and over the next week, people can catch them for entertainment. But Freeda and her pals made waves at the event, passing out fliers explaining that being hooked hurts.
The nervous system in fish is virtually the same as in birds and mammals, and they feel and respond to pain. There's nothing sporting about piercing a fish's mouth and yanking the animal into an environment in which he or she slowly suffocates. Join Freeda and her buddies in letting fish be your friend, not your food, and out fish from your diet.
We all know about fish schools, but what exactly are they learning all day? Young fish learn in very much the same ways that human children do. Researchers presented damselfish with the scent of a predator along with the scent of a damselfish alarm cue. Later, when the damselfish met the actual predator, they understood the danger and protected themselves. It's similar to when a kid sees a bully take someone's lunch money and knows not to go near him. Fish tend to join large schools in order to protect themselves and make it easier to find food. In a study of angelfish, researchers let young fish choose between two schools and found that the fish were able to easily estimate which was the larger school. They also let the fish choose between a group of two and a group of three and noted that fish could count to three in order to determine which group was larger.
Other studies have found that fish use tools, have impressive long-term memories, and have sophisticated social structures. Some male fish even woo potential partners by singing to them. So the next time you sit down to eat sushi, remember that you could possibly be eating the ocean's Justin Bieber—and choose vegetarian versions instead.
New undercover footage from our friends at Mercy for Animals shows how fish in a Texas slaughterhouse meet their end. The investigator documented workers using knives to slice off fins and pliers to peel away strips of skin from fully-conscious, struggling animals.
According to the USDA, the amount of farm-raised catfish—like those at Catfish Corner—processed in the U.S. in October 2010 alone was 40.5 million pounds.
Other sea animals endure similarly horrific slaughter that makes medieval torture methods look tame: crabs have their legs ripped off their bodies, one by one, while they are still alive.
Please be sure to share this video with anyone who still eats fish. Fish aren't swimming vegetables—they are living, sentient beings who feel pain, pleasure. Fish, like all animals, deserve nothing less than the most basic, common-sense protections from cruelty.
In an interview with the U.K.'s Metro, Anne Hathaway reveals that she has been a "commitment-shy vegetarian" since she was about 12, but she says that she strengthened her resolve not to eat her furry or feathered friends while in England filming her upcoming movie One Day. Fish, however, were still on the menu—until someone gave her a copy of Jonathan Safran Foer's bestseller Eating Animals.
"I read it and that was it for me in terms of being able to eat fish," she says. "I just can't support the way fish are farmed and caught. So when my friends say, 'Do you want to go out and have sushi?' I go out with them and order my cucumber rolls, and they're, like, 'Really?' No matter how tempting it is to have a delicious piece of sushi, I just can't."
Anne, whenever you're in L.A., I have it on good authority that you can't go wrong with the Caterpillar Roll (barbeque seitan and avocado) at Shojin Organic & Natural. You'll never miss the slimy sea kitten flesh, I promise.
Written by Alisa Mullins
Former first lady Barbara Bush raised eyebrows recently when she told Larry King that she hopes Sarah Palin stays in Alaska. But considering what Sarah and her daughter Bristol do in Alaska, we're not sure that's such a great idea either.This gruesome scene of Bristol and Sarah clubbing a halibut to death took place during the second episode of Sarah Palin's Alaska, in which they visited the city of Homer for a mother-daughter day of commercial halibut fishing. "It felt awesome gettin' some aggression out," Bristol said about clubbing the fish.
Gee, is this how most mothers and daughters bond? My mom and I just made cookies …
Written by Paula Moore
Could someone check a calendar for me? 'Cause mine says it's 2010, but the organizers of the G20 summit in Seoul seem to have gone medieval on the world leaders assembled there by using live goldfish to test the water quality.
Really, guys? Surely you are aware that there are plenty of ways to tell what's in the water without dumping fish into it to see if they survive.
What's that, G20? You say you had been using non-animal water purity tests before but just decided to start using goldfish for the summit? OK, now I'm really confused. Is the point of this to make South Korea look like a Third World country? Are you looking to bring back royal food tasters and coal-mine canaries too?
Sounds like somebody needs to enroll in Sea Kittens 101.
Written by Jeff Mackey
To celebrate Fish Empathy Week, PETA sent Sammy the Sea Kitten to Fair Haven School in New Haven, Connecticut, and as you can see from the photos, students (and many of their parents) couldn't get enough of him!
The youngsters embraced both Sammy and his lifesaving message that sea kittens (aka fish) are meant for lovin', not the oven. Have you?
Written by Karin Bennett
Beauty may be in the eye of the beholder, but The New York Times wasn't pussyfooting around when it printed this about fish sea kittens:
We've been saying it all along, but there it is in black and white—thanks to The Gray Lady. Now, why don't you issue your own official statement, in yellow and blue?
Via Gawker
Over the weekend, all the contestants in Milwaukee's Brew City Salmon Tournament got a little something to take home with them—even if they didn't manage to hook, suffocate, and kill any sea kittens.
PETA took to the skies over Lake Michigan with an airplane banner urging tournament participants to look at angling from a different angle by imagining if the shoe were on the other foot (fin?).
So maybe the message isn't about shoes and feet so much as about turning the other cheek? Of course, if it had been up to me, I'd have gone with a banner asking the question on everyone's mind: Do anglers have small rods?
To show the world that you have a big heart (among other organs) when it comes to fish, start here.
If you have a general question for PETA and would like a response, please e-mail Info@peta.org. If you need to report cruelty to an animal, please click here. If you are reporting an animal in imminent danger and know where to find the animal and if the abuse is taking place right now, please call your local police department. If the police are unresponsive, please call PETA immediately at 757-622-7382 and press 2.
Follow PETA on Twitter!