PETA to Host a Local … Fishing Event?

For Immediate Release:
April 2, 2021

Contact:
Nicole Meyer 202-483-7382

Tomorrow, PETA supporters will gather at Lake Balboa Park as part of a new “trash fishing” initiative inspired by the father-and-son duo who decided to tackle trash—from tires to tin cans—in Michigan’s Detroit River. PETA’s community cleanup events—which will be held nationwide, including in Denver and New York City—supply attendees with eco-friendly gloves, compostable trash bags, and vegan snacks such as Swedish Fish candy.

When:    Saturday, April 3, 10 a.m.

Where:    Lake Balboa Park, 6300 Balboa Blvd., Van Nuys

“PETA’s ‘trash fishing’ initiative is a fun way to enjoy nature, reduce pollution, and protect marine life in all its fascinating forms,” says PETA Director of Campaigns Danielle Katz. “No one would encourage children to hook dogs or cats through the mouth, and fish should be treated with equal respect.”

PETA Kids’ 2018 Cutest Vegan Kid runner-up, Alastair Sevilla, will join the socially distanced event with his mother. Since he was 3 years old, the sixth-grader has advocated for all animals, whether they have fins or fur.

PETA notes that traditional fishing is a cruel practice of hooking gentle animals through their sensitive mouths, watching them slowly suffocate, and sometimes even gutting them while they’re still alive. Even though they are now known to feel pain as acutely as mammals do, more fish are killed for food each year than all other animals combined. Fishing also harms “nontarget” species: Every year, anglers and the fishing industry leave behind a trail of victims that includes birds, turtles, and other animals who sustain debilitating injuries after swallowing fishhooks or becoming entangled in fishing lines.

PETA—whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to eat”—opposes speciesism, a human-supremacist worldview. For more information, please visit PETA.org or follow the group on Twitter, Facebook, or Instagram.