Tag: Fishing

Hotel Chain Ends Arrangement with HSUS

The Washington Times reported this week that the national Accor Economy Lodging hotel and motel chain has ended a partnership with the Human Society of the United States after receiving complaints from hunters.

Accor owns Motel 6, Red Roof Inns and Studio 6. Last summer the company began actively promoting HSUS’s “Pets for Life” and “Disaster Recovery” programs. At the time, an Accor spokesman said that the company was “proud to support the efforts of the Humane Society of the United States.”

According to the Times, however, a campaign led by the U.S. Sportsmen’s Alliance resulted in enough letters and calls to the company to convince it to drop the partnership with HSUS.

Times sports columnist Gene Mueller quotes U.S. Sportsmen’s Alliance vice president Rick Story as saying,

Hunters, trappers and anglers from across the country made a point to contact Accor to help its administrators better understand where the promotion of the Humane Society of the United States could lead. It will not lead to the salvation of millions of homeless dogs and cuts, but it could easily lead to the downfall of outdoor traditions enjoyed by millions of sportsmen

Sources:

One way to hunt for a perfect gift. Gene Mueller, The Washington Times, November 27, 2002.

Motel chain angers hunting advocates. Gene Mueller, The Washington Times, June 19, 2002.

Arkansas Game and Fish Commission Opposes New Anti-Cruelty Statute

The Associated Press reports that the Arkansas state Game and Fish Commission voted unanimously to oppose a ballot measure that would create a new animal-cruelty statute.

The ballot measure, which voters will decide on in the November election, would make the most violent acts of animal cruelty Class D felonies punishable by up to six years in jail and a $10,000 fine.

The Game and Fish Commission, however, argues that the law is worded vaguely and that groups supporting the anti-cruelty measure might try to use it to outlaw fishing and hunting in the state.

Game and Fish Commission chairman Jim Hinkle told the Associated Press,

Certain groups that are supporting this act are on record as wanting to eliminate hunting and fishing in Arkansas. Additionally, there are too many loopholes in the act, which may make judicial interpretation problematic.

Lyndon Poole, campaign coordinator for the Arkansas Animal Cruelty Act, responded by claiming that the very vagueness of the law would prevent hunting and fishing from being considered acts of animal cruelty.

So vague laws are good laws? Since when?

As a result of its vote, the Game and Fish Commission will join a coalition called Arkansans for Responsible Animal Laws that is opposing the measure.

Source:

Game and Fish votes to fight animal cruelty measure. Brian Skoloff, Associated Press, September 27, 2002.

PETA Asks State Park Officials to Ban Fishing in State Parks

Over the past couple months, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals has been sending letters to officials responsible for state parks asking them to ban fishing. The letters are being sent by PETA’s Dan Shannon, and here’s a typical one sent to the North Dakota Parks and Recreation,

October 31, 2001

Doug Perchal

North Dakota Parks and Recreation Department

1835 Bismarck Expressway

Bismarck, ND 58504

Dear Mr. Perchal:

On behalf of PETAÂ’s more than 750,000 members and supporters, as well as the fish, birds, and other animals that make North Dakota state parks their home, we respectfully request that fishing be banned in all North Dakota state parks.

According to an article in U.S. News & World Report (“Parks in Peril,” July 21, 1997), the park system is bending under the pressure of encroachment, underfunding, overcrowding, and pollution. Eliminating fishing and its harmful effects would take some of this pressure off of the parks and their inhabitants.

The violent process of fishing and its consequences do not complement the peace and tranquility of a state park. As you know, fish have a neurochemical system like ours and thus the brain capacity to experience fear and pain. Fish who are torn from the water suffer from being impaled, thrown, stepped on, or mutilated while alive. Many die slowly and painfully from suffocation.

Fishing has other victims, too: In one case among many, a young bald eagle was found by the National Park Service, near death because of injuries to his feet caused by fishing line that had cut through his flesh, resulting in a systemic infection and intense suffering. He required intensive daily care for three months before he was successfully released. Not all animals are as lucky. Millions of birds and other animals suffer, and many die, from injuries caused by discarded fishing hooks, monofilament line, lead weights, and floats. Animals who become entangled in fishing line are often trapped underwater and drown or, unable to feed, die slowly of starvation. In fact, many wildlife rehabilitators tell us that fishing litter is the single greatest cause of injuries to aquatic animals.

North Dakota state parks have already made the compassionate choice to ban hunting, and we are asking you to take the next step. Fishing is just hunting in the water. The tide is turning on sportfishing with the widespread recognition of the sentience of fish and the desire to live a more compassionate, less harmful life. After reading the enclosed materials, we hope you will make the decision to ban fishing in North Dakota state parks and turn them into true havens for all.

Please contact me if you have any questions. I look forward to hearing from you. Thank you for your consideration.

Sincerely,

Dan Shannon

“Fishing Hurts” Campaign

Not surprisingly, PETA does not seem to be having much success. As a spokesman for Missouri’s State Parks told the St. Louis Dispatch after it received a letter from Shannon, “I can’t see any circumstances ever where parks wouldn’t open for fishing.”

In fact, while many Americans might be ambivalent about hunting, fishing remains very popular. In a Harris poll of Americans which asked people to rank their favorite leisure activities, fishing came in 3rd tied with spending time with family and kids, and behind only reading and watching television.

Sources:

PETA faces uphill battle on fishing issue. Tim Renken, St. Louis Post-Dispatch, December 29, 2001.

Reading, TV, Spending Time with Family, Gardening and Fishing Top List of Favorite Leisure-Time Activities. Humphrey Taylor, Harris Interactive, August 8, 2001.

PETA Hopes to Sink Fishing in North Dakota State Parks. Dan Shannon, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, Press Release, October 31, 2001.

Help Conservation Efforts: Eat More Fish

In their anti-fishing arguments, animal rights activists occasionally argue that fish consumption leads to over fishing, and if consumers would stop eating fish, this problem could be solved. In a recent op-ed for The Toronto Star, for example, Barry Kent McCay wrote,

I haven’t eaten a fish in 25 years nor caught in fish in more than 40. Extreme? Not as extreme as the damage fishing does to the only planet I have to live on.

Many environmental groups, including the World Wildlife Fund take a different view — consumption of fish is an important part of conservation efforts.

For example, in discussing the depleted cod stocks in the United Kingdom, a recent report by the WWF said,

Not eating fish would only encourage a spiral of decline. Instead, we should aim at supporting our fishing communities and the wider marine environment by continuing to eat fish and by making informed decisions about the fish we choose.

The WWF does have a number of recommendations for consumers, including avoiding immature fish, buying locally caught fish to support local fishing industries, and buying farmed fish that is reared in open sea conditions.

But contrary to some animal rights activists, abandoning fish consumption would be a counterproductive strategy that would likely lead to deterioration of fisheries.

Source:

Eat a fish, save a species. The BBC, July 12, 2001.

There aren’t plenty of fish in the sea anymore. Barry Kent MacKay, The Toronto Starr, July 8, 2001.

PETA: A Boy Is A Dog Is A Fish

Over the past month or so People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals has been trying to buy billboard space for its new anti-fishing campaign, which features a picture of a dog Photoshopped to look as if it has been captured on a fish hook (PETA has a JPEG version of the billboard here).

In its anti-fishing propaganda, PETA endorses a twist on an old animal rights saying. According to PETA, “When it comes to feelings, a boy is a dog is a fish.” In fact, PETA quotes marine biologist Sylvia Earle as imputing individual personality to fish.

A fish is not a fish is not a fish. They are all different as individuals. Like all Labrador retrievers have certain waggly tail kinds of characteristics that identify them as Labrador retrievers, but every one is different. Some are more shy, some are more aggressive, some are more curious. Some kinds of fish, like groupers, have a particular kind of personality that makes it very tough to eat fish once you’ve gotten to know them on a one to one basis. I certainly don’t eat anyone I know personally anymore.

Earle is a well respected scientist, but perhaps the thousands of hours she’s spent underwater are beginning to cloud her judgment a bit. I wonder if she would go as far as PETA does in its literature when it claims that, “Bass and basset hounds, cods and collies, all animals treasure their lives and feel pain.”

Leaving aside the issue of whether or not fish feel pain, claiming that a dog treasures its life is an absurd claim that is supportable only through the most extreme form of anthropomorphizing animals.

Source:

Why do we throw a frisbee to some animals and a barbed hook to others?. People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, Fact Sheet, 2001.

PETA: Stop "Hunting in the Water"

People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals sent a letter last week demanding that the Boy Scouts of America eliminate its “Fishing” and “Fish and Wildlife Management” merit badges, since they require Scouts to engage in violent acts that are training young men to enjoy violence. Specifically, both badges involve Fishing — or as PETA calls it, “hunting in the water.”

According to PETA’s letter,

Fishing is no longer considered a benign activity. It is hunting in the water, and the idea of a scout armed with a gun or rod, setting out to actively attack animals who were minding their own business, is not in keeping with the image of scouting, now or in the past.

…

Promoting fishing teaches young people that hooking, maiming, suffocating, and killing is acceptable. We call on you to help break the cycle of cruelty by promoting activities that teach only compassion, rather than indifference and violence.

In case any reporters missed the point, in a news release, PETA said,

Desensitizing children to the suffering of others is a dangerous lesson. According to FBI profilers, the American Psychiatric Association, law enforcement officials, and child advocacy organizations, cruelty to animals is a warning sign commonly seen in people who eventually direct violence toward humans.

“In an era of school shootings and hate crimes, it is folly to encourage young boys to harm innocent animals,” says PETA’s Dawn Carr. “The Boy Scouts are supposed to be compassionate role models, not bloodthirsty fish killers.”

Source:

PETA’s letter to Milton H. Ward, president of the Boy Scouts of America. People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, Press Release, March 15, 2001.

Confessions of a killing machine. Terry Tomalin, St. Petersburg Times, March 18, 2001.

PETA Asks Boy Scouts To “De-Merit” Badges Promoting Cruelty To Animals. People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, Press Release, March 15, 2001.