Gill the Fish, PETA’s 6-foot-tall mascot with a mission, has nearly worn out his shoes pounding the pavement to remind the public that fish have feelings, too. Though he sometimes felt like a fish out of water, Gill kept his chin up during his recent North American tour crusading for his finned friends. Luckily for us, Gill took his laptop along and sent daily missives about life on the road. Here are some highlights:

Larry the Lobster and I braved Fisherman’s Wharf today to urge passersby to eat faux fish—-or no fish! Larry says Americans gobble up about 17 million of our piscatorial pals every year. Oh, the inhumanity!	Look at me: I’m a “Beltway insider,” asking U.S. Secretary of the Interior Bruce Babbitt to ban fishing in national parks! Bruce must have been busy, but lots of Interior Department staffers spoke to me as they headed to lunch—-hopefully on their way to a vegetarian café! Saw many strange sights, including a “donkey” and an “elephant” butting heads on the White House lawn. Can’t we all just get along?
I donned my chef’s hat at the Aquaculture America 2000 Conference and served up my favorite dish: grilled “humans.” Don’t worry: I eat my veggies, not my friends. My “people” patties were fake! Also while in the Big Easy, I asked Bassmasters fishing tournament participants to “scale back” the cruelty: There’s nothing “sporting” about impaling animals on hooks!	Got people “all shook up” today at “Elfish” Presley Plaza on Beale Street when I told them that fishing hurts. But I know that the King would never be cruel to a fish who’s true! Elvis’ favorite snack was even fish-friendly: fried peanut butter-and-banana sandwiches. I also made an appearance at the Elvis festival in Virginia Beach, where all the other Presley impersonators wanted to have their pictures taken with ... Elfish!
Move over, Smokey the Bear. Yours Truly is making headlines from coast to coast as the newest protector of our national parks. Today I visited Lake Mead to remind anglers that being hooked hurts! Fishing is no fun for the animals who swallow hooks or get tangled up in line, either. Anglers should pick on somebody their own size!	Don’t dip me in butter, but do pass the suntan oil! After spending a long day handing out free Tuno (vegetarian tuna) sandwiches to attendees of the aquaculture conference (that’s fish farming to you and me), I was able to catch a few rays—-no, not that kind!—-by the pool.
Kids know that fishing is cruel, not cool! I’ve visited dozens of elementary schools, passing out “Look, Don’t Hook” toy binoculars—and getting lots of hugs in return! The nice people in St. Petersburg let me and my two-legged friend Dawn tell students the fish’s side of the fishing story. Quite a contrast to Detroit, where one principal yelled at me, “Get out of here! Go home! Go home!” For cod’s sake!	Just when you thought it was safe to go back on the sidewalk. ... After asking Seafood Industry Museum visitors to keep fish off their forks, I strolled down the tourist strip—-and nearly became an appetizer for Jaws! Yikes! A fish’s work is never done, and I’ll be back on the road soon. Next stop: maybe your local fishing hole!
Go vegetarian and nobody gets hurt! That’s the message I took up north, where I told Canadian carnivores that fish flesh often contains toxic levels of mercury and PCB’s, which can cause cancer. My new slogan: “Fish cakes are carnage!"	I nearly froze my fins off today at the Crater Lake National Park, asking anglers to get hooked on compassion. Not every day is a picnic for Gill the Fish.

Gill in the News Gill also sent us some news clips about his North American escapades. The verdict: Two fins up! “In order to have anyone take you seriously about issues of compassion, you’ve got to look like a dropout from the Sports Mascot Academy. Because who wants to talk seriously about whether or not fish feel pain? It might affect our lifestyles. It’s too easy to keep doing what we’ve always done—eat like there’s no tomorrow. Until you see a 7-foot fish.” —Emil Guillermo, host of the PBS television program NCM: New California Media “Gill is PETA’s public point man, touring the country to stump for the group’s campaign. Wherever he goes, men, women, and children point and laugh. ... Thankfully, the trauma of being Gill is nothing like what a fish goes through when hooked.” —Boating magazine’s Pete McDonald, who bravely dressed as Gill for a day