Don’t Hurt The Sea Kittens: Why PETA is wrong

I almost hate to write this because I don’t want to promote bad behavior. As a breathing human, PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) offends me with their blatantly-horrific publicity stunts.

Honestly, sometimes I would rather see people in fur than have to look at them naked. No joke.

I did get a good laugh when I saw they dropped the word “fish” from their vocabulary and started referring to our underwater friends as Sea Kittens because no one would want to hurt something as sweet as a sea kitten. The company even offered Florida’s Hillsborough County a three-million-dollar cash donation to make repairs to a closed fishing pier with two contingencies. First, rename it “Sea Kitten Pier” and second, prohibit any fishing from it. Thankfully, there are still some smart leaders in this country and the county declined.

Trust me when I say, the thing my husband loves more than me in this world is fishing. When I told him about the name Sea Kitten, he muttered something about terrorists under his breath and then said PETA could call fish “innocent babies” and it wouldn’t change anything for him. He loves to fish and he would find a way to drop a line in every situation short of a nuclear bombing. I assume most anglers would agree with him.

In a recent press release, PETA announced it would be introducing a new line of submersible drones, in order to spy on fishermen. This PETA submarine called Aqua Angels will be available from their online store following testing at undisclosed locations and supposedly will help combat anglers who fish in restricted areas, catch protected species, or chum for sharks illegally.

This isn’t the first time PETA has employed drones. In the past, they’ve used them to “watch” hunters and scare game away. I’m sure PETA was overjoyed when hunters started cheering them on for giving them an additional target. Kudos to the state of Illinois because it went on to ban the use of drones to interfere with hunters or anglers.

Is it just me, or is this a waste of resources? Let’s make use of the money and support starving children in our country. Also, is it just me or does it seem unsafe to have mechanical objects running under the water with no indication that they might be there? People often swim in these bodies of water and it might be jarring if they get a drone confused with a mechanical Jaws shark. 

Regardless, responsible anglers won’t be bothered by this anyway because they aren’t breaking any laws. Trout Unlimited, the biggest coldwater conservation group in the U.S., with 140,000 members, donates 500,000 hours every year to clean up polluted rivers, restore fish habitat and fish populations.

The Atlantic Salmon Federation led the effort to tear down the Edwards Dam on the Kennebec River in Maine, which freed up 17 miles of river that had previously been submerged. The tearing down of the dam has led to better habitat for salmon, sturgeon, striped bass and shad, just to name a few.  

Responsible anglers fight the hardest to conserve resources for future generations. Perhaps if PETA joined forces with recreational fishermen instead of trying to tear them down, wonderful things could be accomplished.

After spending the afternoon reading about Sea Kittens, I’m going to go home and hug my cat and then eat fish for dinner. Thank you PETA for the inspiration. If it wasn’t for you, I would be going home to kick my cat and have a salad.