From: "Earl W", [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Animal activists set sights on angling
1:03pm Monday, 12th February 2001
Animal rights activists are launching a nationwide advertising campaign as
part of a push for angling to be outlawed.
Leisure fishing is a bloodsport, as bad as fox hunting and should be
outlawed, says campaign group Peta - People for the Ethical Treatment of
Animals.
Advertisements, likely to feature a dog dangling from a line with a hook
through its mouth, will be placed in newspapers, magazines and on
billboards.
But anglers have reacted furiously, saying they are being victimised by
activists and there is no evidence the sport causes fish to suffer.
Andrew Butler, Peta's UK co-ordinator, said: "Angling is nothing more than
hunting on water. Fish feel pain and distress like other animals. They have
all the chemical processes and pain receptors that other creatures do."
The campaign, which is not due to be launched for at least another two
months, was sparked by an anguished letter from a former angler who wrote to
Peta saying he had taken his dog on a fishing trip and his first catch of
the day was a fish with a hook stuck in its cheek.
Mr Butler said: "He looked at the fish, then looked at the dog and realised
that if you wouldn't rip open the cheek of a dog, why would you do it to a
fish?
"So we took that as the starting point. We are looking at using a
computer-generated image of a dog with a hook through it and asking the same
question."
But Kevin Stephenson, secretary of the National Association of Specialist
Anglers, says there is concern that action against the sport will escalate
if the Bill to ban fox hunting goes through Parliament.
"We are confident that there is no suffering involved and that we are in the
right about this," he said. "But the worry is that Peta are very well
organised and funded, and now that hunting is on its knees they are looking
around to see what's next."
--
PETA - People Eating Tasty Animals. <G>
Steve.
Cybershooters website: http://www.cybershooters.org
List admin: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
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