For Immediate Release: March 11,2013 Contact: Kaitlynn Kelly 202-483-7382
Burlington,Vt. —After the Vermont Fish & Wildlife Department released a statement requesting more volunteers for its “Let’s Go Fishing” program,which aims to teach children and their families how to fish,PETA has asked the department to cancel “Let’s Go Fishing” and allocate its funding to nonviolent educational youth programs.
“Teaching children to fish tells them that it’s OK to inflict pain and suffering on someone who is different from them,” says PETA Executive Vice President (and mom) Tracy Reiman. ”Particularly at this impressionable young age,we should be teaching our children lessons about nonviolence,empathy,and acceptance.”
PETA also points out that multiple scientific studies have concluded that fish feel pain acutely. Fish suffer while being held out of water just as humans would if drowning. Their mouths and lips are particularly sensitive,and fish who are caught and thrown back endure painful injuries and infections,and often die soon afterwards.
The money saved by canceling the “Let’s Go Fishing” program could fund many recreational activities along Vermont’s scenic waterways that would be safer for children and more humane for fish.
For more information,please visit PETA.org . To view PETA’s new anti-fishing public service announcement starring Joaquin Phoenix,click here .
