PETA Strikes Again

Sometimes you just have to wonder if the folks that run People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) come up with their cuddly campaigns late at night in the back of a bar after having one too many boilermakers.

PETA has just launched a new Sea Kitten campaign targeting children, in an effort to change the way they view fish. The group wants to convince people that fish are intelligent, adorable victims of a world that is terrorizing, torturing, and murdering them. So if they can reach out to children at an early age and make them regard fish with the same affection they feel for kittens, then the children will grow up to be vegetarians and leave the poor fish alone.

PETA’s explanation for wanting fish to be thought of as Sea Kittens is that no one would ever consider putting a hook through the head of a kitten and dragging it through the water. They are asking that people contact the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) to stop promoting the hunting and killing of sea kittens. According to PETA’s website, sea kittens are the victims of threats to their ways of life, they are just as intelligent as other pets, just as adorable, they feel pain just like all animals feel pain, and no one should be allowed to hurt a sea kitten. PETA harshly criticizes FWS, saying that their mission to "conserve, protect and enhance fish, wildlife and plants and their habitats" is in opposition to their turning a blind eye on people hunting sea kittens.

The most widely publicized fallout from the Sea Kitten campaign came last week when PETA faxed a letter to the principal of Spearfish High School in Spearfish, South Dakota. The letter asked the school administrators to change the name of the school to "Sea Kitten High School." PETA spokesman Pulin Modi explained, "If children were taught to refer to fish as ‘sea kittens,’ reflecting that fish, like cats and dogs, are individuals that do have friendships, fewer fish might be killed for food or sport. We want people to realize that more fish are killed each year than all animals combined. They don't have the sympathy of more popular animals like cats and dogs."

In addition to overlooking the obvious dichotomy that cats and dogs also eat fish, PETA set aside the fact that the high school is named for the town, which isn’t anywhere near the coast and has nothing to do with the fishing industry. Yet the group feels that the school’s name should be a kinder name that reflects the gentle nature of fish. Not barracudas or great white sharks, of course, but certainly the gentle nature of guppies and angelfish.

PETA sent a similar letter to the principal of Whitefish High School, located in Whitefish, Montana. Jerry House, the superintendent of Whitefish schools, said that the city might want to consider the suggestion, although "White Kitten" might be a better idea since Whitefish is nowhere near the sea. "White Kitten High School, the White Kitten City Council, the White Kitten Fire Department-it has a certain ring to it, don't you think?" Before forming an opinion about House’s comments, read the rest of his opinion: if you break the law in White Kitten, "you'll be arrested by the White Kitten Police Department and taken to the White Kitten Jail, where you'll be treated with soft, furry paws and a purr of compassion."