Tag: Fishing

British Activists Harass Fisherman

A 62-year-old disabled angler reported being harassed by about 20 animal rights demonstrators while he attempted to fish on the Granta River in Great Britain. Peter Rainbow told The Daily Telegraph,

I heard some banging of drums and then there were around 20 people carrying baseball bats and pickaxe handles. They were shouting slogans like ‘how many fish have you killed today?’ and ‘how would you like a hook through your mouth?’ … I believe they just wanted to intimidate me. We use barbless hooks and return fish straight to the river. It shows how ill-informed they are.

The demonstrators left after Rainbow called police, and he was not injured.

Source:

Hooded activists threaten lone angler. David Sapsted, The Daily Telegraph (UK), March 8, 2001.

Georgia House Approves Hunting and Fishing Protection Legislation

In February the Georgia State House voted 144-10 to approve a bill that declares hunting, fishing and trapping an important part of the state’s heritage and economy and grants the state Department of Natural Resources the sole authority to regulate such activities.

The bill was aimed at eliminating a DeKalb country prohibition on snipe hunting and to forestall any other local initiatives to ban hunting, fishing and trapping. The bill now moves on to the state Senate.

Source:

House bill affirms right to hunt, fish. Morris News Service, February 22, 2001.

UK Activists Attack Angling

When the House of Commons voted to outlaw fox hunting in January, many of those who voted for the law dismissed claims that fishing and other pursuits would be next on the animal rights agenda. Guess what? People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals is funding an anti-angling campaign scheduled to kick off later this year in Great Britain.

“As well as an advertising campaign, we are planning demonstrations at fish and chip shops across the country,” PETA’s Andrew Butler told The Sunday Times (UK).

Although it hasn’t received the same attention the anti-hunting movement has, the Campaign for the Abolishment of Angling has been busy protesting fishing. At a European angling championship, CAA activist Clare Persey broke a competitor’s fishing rod and then jumped into a river to disrupt the championship.

Source:

Animal activists target anglers. The Sunday Times, February 11, 2001.

Virginia hunting amendment to go to voters in November

The Virginia General Assembly
recently a proved a state constitutional amendment that would guarantee
Virginians the right to hunt and fish in that state. The amendment passed
the Virginia state Senate 24 to 16. It must still be approved by voters
in the November election.

The amendment specifically
alters the state constitution to read that “the people have a right to
hunt, fish, and harvest game, subject to such regulations as the General
Assembly may prescribe by general law.”

The bill was opposed by groups
and individuals afraid it might weaken local gun control statutes in Virginia
cities as well as localized bans on hunting within some city limits. “Do
you really want hunting in your incorporated cities and towns?” asked
Republican Sen. William C. Mims during the debate on the measure.

Whether the amendment would
override local gun control or hunting regulations is debatable since most
such restrictions are on state-owned land and the result of strictures
passed by the state legislature, which would clearly remain constitutional
under the new amendment.

Before the vote the Humane
Society of the United States issued a press release opposing the amendment
and is likely to campaign against it in November. According to an HSUS
press release,

House Joint Resolution 124 (HJR 124) is a radical proposition
that amends the state constitution so that it designates hunting, fishing,
and the harvesting of game as constitutional rights. . . . Virginia citizens,
contact your state senator today and urge him or her to vote against HJR
124. Point out that Virginia’s constitution does not even guarantee citizens
the right to basic needs such as food, shelter or health care, so make
this effort to provide constitutional protection to recreational pursuits
is extremely inappropriate and offensive.

But of course, all the amendment
does at the end of the day is reaffirm the legitimacy of property rights
in animals-a principle that, despite all of it claims that it is not an
animal rights organization, HSUS clearly seems to stand diametrically
opposed.

References:

Virginia
assembly passes right-to-hunt amendment. Washington Post, March 1,
2000.

Virginia: Don’t make
hunting and trapping constitutional rights. Press release, Human Society
of the United States, February 24, 2000.

RSPCA not amused by politically incorrect recipes

The Times (UK)
reports that the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals
was not amused by cookbook put together by supporters of hunting. The
cookbook, The Millennium Coursing Cookbook, was put together to
raise funds to fight proposed bans and limits on hunting and fishing in
the UK (coursing, for those unaware, is a hunting competition using hounds
to chase a mechanical lure or a live animal such as a rabbit).

Ros Varnes of the RSPCA
told the Times (UK),  “I hope the publishers make it clear to
people exactly what they will be helping finance if they buy this cookbook.
The idea that they will be supporting cruel and outdated sports where
wild animals are hounded to death should be enough to turn many stomachs.”

Source:

Recipes
offend RSPCA palate from the Times (UK), December 1, 1999

PETA pushing fishing ban, hermit crab ban, deer slaughter ban, and "Monkey Shorts" ban

On July 17 People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals sent Gil the Fish
to lead a protest against fishing in Watertown, New York. In a press release
PETA gushed on about the horrors of fishing. “Fish feel pain — they
have neurochemical systems like humans and sensitive nerve endings in
their lips and mouths. They begin to die slowly of suffocation the moment
they are pulled out of the water.”

As Ingrid Newkirk summed up PETAÂ’s
view, “Animal suffering of any kind is not a sport.” PETA wants
a national ban on fishing enacted.

If it is wrong for fish to
suffer is it okay to shoot bears and birds that might eat fish?

In other PETA-related news

  • PETA urged people to send letters to Sundial Beach and Tennis Resort
    on Sanibal Island, Florida, because an “Ecocenter” there sells
    hermit crabs. According to a PETA release, selling the crabs is “disrespectful
    and ecologically unsound.”

  • PETA demanded Sea Pines, South Carolina, abandon plans to kill 200
    deer who are destroying plants in the area (selling crabs is unsound,
    destroying flora is perfectly acceptable.)

  • In a bizarre twist, PETA wants Turner Broadcasting Systems (TBS)
    to stop running a series of short spots called “Monkey Shorts.”
    The shorts feature chimpanzees and orangutans dressed up as different
    characters who move their lips and move around the screen as a human
    voice over plays. The shorts are shown between TBS feature movies. According
    to PETA, “even the most considerate of trainers cannot compensate
    for the anxiety and frustration of such an unnatural life in captivity.”

Sources:

Giant “fish” to tackle fishing in Watertown. People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, Press Release, July 16, 1998.

Help stop the sale of hermit crabs in Florida. People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, Press Release, July 1998.

Help protest the slaughter of deer at Hilton Head, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, Press Release, July 1998.

Urge TBS to cancel ‘Monkey Shorts,’. People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, Press Release, July 1998.