jmom
Sat, Feb-19-05, 16:41
These people must deliberately set out to be laughed at!! At least they do provide humor for the day. Ban fishing in Alaska??? (or Alabama if your'e not entirely sure which "A" state is where or who it is has salmon :lol:
PETA seeks statewide king fishing ban
PLEA: Animal-rights group asks governor to save state fish.
By PETER PORCO and DOUG O'HARRA
Anchorage Daily News
(Published: February 19, 2005)
In a move sure to evoke derision in this fishing state, the animal rights organization PETA has asked Gov. Frank Murkowski to stop all Alaska fishing for king salmon.
PETA, or People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, faxed a letter to Murkowski on Friday, claiming that recent studies show fish to be "intelligent animals who feel pain."
"(W)e are writing to request that you declare King Salmon, the state fish, off limits to fishing," Karin Robertson, manager of the group's "fish empathy project," wrote to Murkowski.
The group targeted kings and not, say, silvers or Dolly Varden or Irish Lords, because "it's the state fish that we're asking him specifically to make a pardon for," and this is just a first step, said Bruce Friedrich, PETA's director of vegan campaigns.
The governor's press secretary, Becky Hultberg, seemed somewhat incredulous. She said PETA had addressed the letter to Murkowski, "Governor of Alabama."
Friedrich said the Alabama reference was an error and that Alaska is among the first targets in PETA's 6-month-old fish-empathy campaign.
Hultberg said PETA had less than a zero chance persuading Murkowski.
"We'd like to see more king salmon on the dinner plates of people on the East Coast," she said. "This clearly shows how out of touch this organization is with the people of Alaska."
Friedrich, who spoke by phone Friday evening from Washington, D.C., said PETA was not deluded. The letter had other purposes.
"We hope that everybody will find it to be provocative and think about why we would ask the governor to take this step," he said. "The reality is that fish are interesting individuals and feel pain every bit as much as dogs and cats."
Fish, Friedrich added, even have long-term memories.
PETA has mounted an extensive anti-fishing campaign based largely on the premise that fish suffer on their way to the freezer or grill.
On the Web site www.fishinghurts.com, the group argues that neurobiologists have confirmed that fish feel pain and emotional distress when they're hooked.
"Claiming that fish do not suffer is as intellectually and scientifically sound as arguing that the Earth is flat," the group states.
PETA supports its position by citing several scientific studies.
One article, published in 2003 by The Royal Society Scientific Academy, concluded that rainbow trout feel pain because they can sense painful stimuli and then avoid those stimuli with complex behavior. The authors suggested that future work should study how important to the "mental well-being of this species" is its ability to endure a "noxious, potentially painful event."
Such conclusions are simply wrong, wrote James Rose, a professor at the University of Wyoming who has studied the neurobiology of fish.
"In order to show that a fish experiences pain, it is necessary to show that a fish has consciousness," he wrote in a critique of the academy article posted on his Web site at the University of Wyoming. "Without consciousness, there is no pain."
Just because fish avoided noxious stimuli doesn't mean they experienced pain and decided to move away, Rose wrote in his own article on the subject, published in 2002 in the journal Reviews in Fisheries Science.
"The capacity to react to injurious or threatening stimuli is a universal characteristic of animal life," he said. It can be seen in single-celled creatures and invertebrates that lack brains.
But conscious awareness by people and other mammals depends on specific areas in the cerebral cortex, Rose wrote. "Fishes lack these essential brain regions ... making it untenable that they can experience pain."
Friedrich said he grew up in Minnesota and fished avidly for 14 years as a youth, and it had never occurred to him that "what I considered to be a pleasant afternoon ... would amount to felony cruelty charges if it had been done to dogs or cats."
Fish may be highly recommended as a healthful food by doctors, but Friedrich said it's better to get the same nutrients from nuts and leafy vegetables.
"Try walnuts and spinach," he said.
Daily News reporters Peter Porco and Doug O'Harra can be reached at pporco~adn.com and do'harra~adn.com.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
http://www.adn.com/front/story/6188670p-6063351c.html
PETA seeks statewide king fishing ban
PLEA: Animal-rights group asks governor to save state fish.
By PETER PORCO and DOUG O'HARRA
Anchorage Daily News
(Published: February 19, 2005)
In a move sure to evoke derision in this fishing state, the animal rights organization PETA has asked Gov. Frank Murkowski to stop all Alaska fishing for king salmon.
PETA, or People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, faxed a letter to Murkowski on Friday, claiming that recent studies show fish to be "intelligent animals who feel pain."
"(W)e are writing to request that you declare King Salmon, the state fish, off limits to fishing," Karin Robertson, manager of the group's "fish empathy project," wrote to Murkowski.
The group targeted kings and not, say, silvers or Dolly Varden or Irish Lords, because "it's the state fish that we're asking him specifically to make a pardon for," and this is just a first step, said Bruce Friedrich, PETA's director of vegan campaigns.
The governor's press secretary, Becky Hultberg, seemed somewhat incredulous. She said PETA had addressed the letter to Murkowski, "Governor of Alabama."
Friedrich said the Alabama reference was an error and that Alaska is among the first targets in PETA's 6-month-old fish-empathy campaign.
Hultberg said PETA had less than a zero chance persuading Murkowski.
"We'd like to see more king salmon on the dinner plates of people on the East Coast," she said. "This clearly shows how out of touch this organization is with the people of Alaska."
Friedrich, who spoke by phone Friday evening from Washington, D.C., said PETA was not deluded. The letter had other purposes.
"We hope that everybody will find it to be provocative and think about why we would ask the governor to take this step," he said. "The reality is that fish are interesting individuals and feel pain every bit as much as dogs and cats."
Fish, Friedrich added, even have long-term memories.
PETA has mounted an extensive anti-fishing campaign based largely on the premise that fish suffer on their way to the freezer or grill.
On the Web site www.fishinghurts.com, the group argues that neurobiologists have confirmed that fish feel pain and emotional distress when they're hooked.
"Claiming that fish do not suffer is as intellectually and scientifically sound as arguing that the Earth is flat," the group states.
PETA supports its position by citing several scientific studies.
One article, published in 2003 by The Royal Society Scientific Academy, concluded that rainbow trout feel pain because they can sense painful stimuli and then avoid those stimuli with complex behavior. The authors suggested that future work should study how important to the "mental well-being of this species" is its ability to endure a "noxious, potentially painful event."
Such conclusions are simply wrong, wrote James Rose, a professor at the University of Wyoming who has studied the neurobiology of fish.
"In order to show that a fish experiences pain, it is necessary to show that a fish has consciousness," he wrote in a critique of the academy article posted on his Web site at the University of Wyoming. "Without consciousness, there is no pain."
Just because fish avoided noxious stimuli doesn't mean they experienced pain and decided to move away, Rose wrote in his own article on the subject, published in 2002 in the journal Reviews in Fisheries Science.
"The capacity to react to injurious or threatening stimuli is a universal characteristic of animal life," he said. It can be seen in single-celled creatures and invertebrates that lack brains.
But conscious awareness by people and other mammals depends on specific areas in the cerebral cortex, Rose wrote. "Fishes lack these essential brain regions ... making it untenable that they can experience pain."
Friedrich said he grew up in Minnesota and fished avidly for 14 years as a youth, and it had never occurred to him that "what I considered to be a pleasant afternoon ... would amount to felony cruelty charges if it had been done to dogs or cats."
Fish may be highly recommended as a healthful food by doctors, but Friedrich said it's better to get the same nutrients from nuts and leafy vegetables.
"Try walnuts and spinach," he said.
Daily News reporters Peter Porco and Doug O'Harra can be reached at pporco~adn.com and do'harra~adn.com.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
http://www.adn.com/front/story/6188670p-6063351c.html