A garibaldi swims in Southern California waters. Image courtesy of Aquarium of the Pacific.
People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals has launched a national campaign that urges the public to support changing the name of fish to ”sea kittens”.
PETA says that, ” … we’re going to start by retiring the old name for good. When your name can also be used as a verb that means driving a hook through your head, it’s time for a serious image makeover. And who could possibly want to put a hook through a sea kitten?”
The organization also urges people to email the U.S. Department of Fish and Wildlife to stop promoting fishing because, “Neurobiologists tell us that fish have nervous systems that comprehend and respond to pain, and that, when it comes to the ability to feel pain, fish are just like dogs, cats, and all other animals.”
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I’ll be honest, even as a strict vegetarian I don’t agree with this. It’s very obvious that in doing this, PETA is looking to get people to change the way they think about killing/eating fish by calling them “kittens” (you wouldn’t hurt a kitten would you?), but still, the amount of information, textbooks, etc, that would have to be changed for this to happen???? Really, just not money or time well spent.
Kris: The PETA material says eating fish is basically bad. Do you agree?
“Sea Kittens” sounds good to me. Especially if it comes with shop sticks, soy sauce and was wasabi.
PETA has done a number of strange things, so nothing surprises me anymore, especially something as ludicrous as this. They fail more often than they succeed in nearly every campaign. While I appreciated the undercover operation they were involved in last year that brought light on cruelty to pigs in a factory farm in Iowa, their good will only goes so far.
When they start programs like the one which offers $1 Million to the first person or group of people who can develop commercially-viable “test-tube meat”, you have to wonder what their motivation really is. You know who’s going to end up eating that? Your kids. It’ll be in every school lunch program. http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=89942776
I say don’t give them any more press. The less we talk about them, the less relevant they’ll be.
PETA is an extreme religion and should be separate from the secular state. Renaming what is fish is idiocy. PETA is like fanatical Islam, wanting “change” to their definition of what should be. One can only hope that PETA send their missionaries to foreign countries (like the Congo, Zambia, South Africa and other 3rd world nations) to demonstrate against eating meat/fish, people and convince them to become vegetarians!
Also i really enjoyed my dinner of fresh veal while wearing my new leather jacket last night. mmmm yummy!!!
PETA= People Eating Tasty Animals!!
This just show how stupid this extremist groups are who want to be revisionvist of man kind I think we should rename PETA to stand for People Eating Tasty Animals!!!! & see if they like it & this just proves that no eating animals makes you stupid
This is a joke, right? Well, the entire PETA organization is a joke but I digress.
Call fish what ever you want, but just don’t call me late for dinner when it’s being served!
I spoke with Pulin Modi, a spokesman for PETA. He says that all forms of fishing are unacceptable and that people can meet all their nutritional needs through a vegan diet. However, he did acknowledge that some types of fish are nutritional. I’m noting taking a position on this. Just passing along additional information.
Why don’t they go pick on the people that are eating CATS and not on the ones eating fish.
How ridiculous is this? PETA is so miopic. Billions of the earth’s inhabitants depend on the Ocean’s bounty for their food. Most of the world can’t just change their eating habits. Many places are unable to cultivate diverse agricultural products, thus leaving them mal-nuturished, lacking a protein staple. Fish provide that and much more. Although feasible that most of the US could substitute other protein sources for fish, it is highly unlikely. Once again, PETA is putting animals ahead of humans on the food chain. Some basic science classes would help them greatly. That, and a functioning brain cell. Why don’t they focus their attentions and money on something they can change. like illegal whale harvesting? And let me continue to fish like God intented. A couple of the Apostles of Christ were fisherman weren’t they? Didn’t Christ himself perform a miracle feeding thousands of people fish? That’s a pretty good endorsement for eating more fish. Besides, if we run out of fish, we can always eat PETA people.
PETA is a joke. Calling them “sea kittens” won’t stop anyone from catching and eating fish and thoroughly enjoying it. So land me a big and let’s get our sushi on!
RE: PHOTO. Garibaldi is already protected. Illegal to catch/keep.
This idea arises from some rather distorted thinking. Does this PETA organization actually think people are going to shy away from fishing just because a fish would be renamed a sea kitten? I’d just as easily hook a sea kitten as a fish; it makes no difference to me.
I like fish. Its my right to fish the waters for food if i want. Excluding endangered fish of course. PETA is all about profit. They also kill animals. Lots of people who bring them pets actually think peta will find them a home. The true fact is, there isn’t enough room in their kennels so they throw em in the incinerator. The county already had animal control, Peta is just there to profit from people who think they’re are doing a good cause.
Gary, personally I do not fish, do not eat meat, including fish, but this still seems ‘off the deep end’ to me.
First, we call fish sea kittens, then as people continue eating the newly dubbed ’sea kittens’ and find them delicious they wonder what could be so wrong with eating other kinds of kittens.
Don’t think PETA concidered that did they? Snap.
I would like to know how and where a caveman would of know where to find all the nutrition he needed to survive with out killing an animal or fish? man was designed to eat meat, sure you can substitute meat with something else but that is not the point we were designed to eat other animals, thats why we have the teeth we have. try teaching a bear or lion to eat only veggies and nuts. i would pay to watch a Peta member trying to feed a lion some nuts and berries. You can call it a sea kitten or what ever and i will still grill it with some garlic and onions.
why not, we already call same sex unions “marriage”. I am going to call dogs “cats” also.
OMG i think PETA has nothing to do. LOL
Would that then make Sea Lions be canibalistic beasts then since their diet would be all “Sea Kittens?” In fact, the imagary of kittens actually grows to be a pretty scary thing since all the “Sea Kittens” will be devouring each other in the oceans. Especially the big scarey Great White Sea Kittens!!!!
PETA= A bunch of nut cases.
I guess I wont need a fishing license anymore, because I’m going kittening.
As a cat hater, I say fine rename them sea kittens and bait a hook.
good point Tosh. I can never take PETA seriously because of stunts like this. I find them more comedy then anything. Next time I go fishing I am going to say “Here kitty, kitty, kitty”
Pets eaten taste assume. Don’t eat kittens, there is very little meat.
Though I don’t agree with PETA on most things, they do seem to be able to get good-looking female celebs to pose for naked photos.
This has got to be the WORST IDEA TO EVER COME OUT OF PETA……………..EVER!!!!!
I refuse to get s “Sport kitten” licence. If thay think for, 1 minute, that this is gonna stop people from catching, killing and/or eating fish, they shouldn’t have to ask why they don’t get ANY respect from REAL organizations!
If this ends up happening, I will START eating kittens just for spite.
PETA, STFU!
Thank you for your support,
Shotkill!
OK. Here’s some more: birds = air hamsters | cows = pasture puppies | chickens = coop critters | this stuff writes itself….
Meat is dinner.
huh?????
hmm don’t cats eat fish… therefore I guess they’re cannibals.
Shakespeare said it best, “A Yellow Fin Tuna by any other name would taste so sweet.”
Would a cat fish be called a Cat Kitten? I think I am going to get some kitten tacos for lunch. Or maybe some pasture puppies….
I hate cats, so that would only make it worse for those poor little calico sea kitties, I would kill them and eat the even faster!!
PETA says eating fish is bad? Why? Nutritionists say eating fish is good for you, so I don’t understand PETA’s position. Do they mean MORALLY bad for you, or what?
Aren’t humans animals? Aren’t humans part of the food chain? Wouldn’t a wild animal eat a human?
As an animal lover, I hate to see any animal mistreated or abused. But I think PETA fails to distinguish between morally recognizable forms of killing, such as for nutritional or survival purposes, and say sporting purposes, which is primarily for recreation or entertainment. They basically just say killing any animal is wrong. Do they believe in euthanasia?
PETA… it’s what’s for dinner!
It’s bad for the fish Marmar
hell i think naming them sea kittens makes me want to eat more fish :] mmmmmm
PETA worried about animals being killed?
http://www.petakillsanimals.com/
it’s not as bad for the fish as it is for the SHARKS. maybe PETA wants more shark food?
Bunch of losers:
wow,wow,wow,
How Can PETA say so much BS?And how can people be so idiotic to join them?I think people that are in peta think they are help society,while being the ridicule of society maybe as much as criminals….I think catfish are tasty.
I know for a fact that PETA has it wrong. Sea Kittens are actually sea lions. I know because I was watching the sea lions at an aquarium and I heard some mother tell her little girl “Oh, look at the sea kitties!” LOL
If a fish is now a kitten, what is a kitten? Just to be safe I think I’m going to start eating both.
Thanks PETA
Might as well. Hey look, all the “climate changers” have named the coming ICE AGE “global warming”!
Go to Prada & read for yourself. If you count on the ocr and the “science dude” for your science/ global warming news you’ll have to google it to learn, it simply doesn’t fit the agenda here. With all the greenhouse gasses produced by google, you’ll be doing your part in delaying the inevitable.
Oh, I like my sea kittens fried w/ tartar…..
“Never” —You need to stay on topic. And you don’t mean Prada, which is an Italian fashion label. You mean Pravda, a Russain newspaper that publishes politicized stories about climate change.
“politicized? not like the unbiased “experts” quoted here!
Too funny!! I love to eat sea kittens aka fish. What will happen to “Chicken of the Sea”? Will it be “Kitten of the Sea”? Give me a break…
PETA needs to find some better things to focus on. What a waste of time and money by an organization. Can’t PETA go help the homeless or something like that? Make some real change.
Apparently PETA is loosing its focus and is starting to look even more foolish in my eyes!!!
I am out of here! I am going FISHING!
What a frigging asinine idea. PETA is run by a bunch of nuts.
I heard next on their agenda is teaching all species of fish to say “meow”…
meow…..it’s what’s for dinner. LOL
Time to have a side of fried sea kittens to go along with my elk steak.
The name may change but it’s still just as tasty.
Oh Peta, Peta, Peta,
I would have thought this marketing campaign came straight from the editors of ‘Onion’ and was a complete satire on the organization.
The notion that they actually believe what they are saying seems remarkable.
Besides, there is already the catfish, and many great recipes for cooking it. Semantics will not trump reality in this case. Call them whatever you want, I’ll still be able to eat them.
I think I’ll go have a tuna-fish sandwich on pita bread.
Only if they are baby Lionfish…
I know a fish farmer in Arkansas. He grows catfish in above ground pools & makes a great living. Maybe peta’s trying to muscle in on his biz.. Pool kittens hmmm………….fried w/ tartar.
1- cup mayo
1/4-cup sweet relish
1 tbs. horse radish
Brown mustard to taste.
Damn, now I’m hungry.
This is one of the dumber thins I have heard of. It shows PETA is even more wacked out than I thought they were.
This is all very silly: PETA pulls stunts like this not because they seriously want everyone to call fish “sea kittens” - just as they didn’t have any actual interest in Ben and Jerry’s producing human breast milk instead of cow breast milk - but because they want to make a point. If you think about it, with all the flurry and fury around this stuff, despite all those who think it’s outlandish or silly (while really, it’s outlandish and silly to take it seriously), many people who come across these media blurbs actually pause for a moment, think about the bigger picture… And that’s how minds are changed for the better.
LMAO!!! PETA= FAIL! PETA does do some good, but most of their work is complete craziness. I understand the thought process behind believing that animals shouldn’t have to suffer or even die for our benefit, but they just go too far. Also, to Brent up above, please keep the Bible out of this arguement. I don’t see how you’re going to make a valid point in a logical debate if you make claims that Christ wants us to eat fish. Now I think you’re just as crazy as PETA. Um, not everyone believes in make-believe ghosts and invisible deities. Stick to the facts, not majico-religion.