...Roly-Poly Sea Kitten Heads, Eat Them Up, Yum!

This past week I could not believe my ears when I heard a story on NPR about how PETA is trying to rebrand fish as "Sea Kittens." I laughed so hard that I almost drove off the road. Then I realized as the story continued, that these people are serious. From the NPR web site:

"PETA thought that by renaming fish sea kittens, compassionate people who would never dream of hurting a dog or a cat might extend that sympathy to fish, or sea kittens," PETA campaign coordinator Ashley Byrne says.

Growing up, I went fishing on a regular basis with my Dad and brother. I don't think I ever felt much sympathy for the fish because we ate nearly everything we caught and I thought it was far more humane (and less work) to eat a dead fish than a live one. Honestly, if anyone deserved sympathy during our fishing trips, it was my Dad. My brother and I were typical kids, and by that I mean we weren't very good at sitting still for long periods let alone the extended spans we often spent staring at the surface of a lake hoping that a fish would bite at the gnarled worm we had haplessly impaled on a hook. Dad showed tremendous patience with us as demonstrated by not only our staying out for several hours, but by the fact that he took us with him time and again. I thought fishing was fun also because we got to spend leisure time with him that didn't involve tearing down a wall or putting up drywall. The Peta spokesperson apparently has a different view on what Dad was doing with us:

"Most parents would never dream of spending a weekend torturing kittens for fun with their families, but hooking a sea kitten through the mouth and dragging her through the water is the same as hooking a kitten through the mouth and dragging her behind your car," Byrne says.

Granted there were times when we caught fish that were considered too small to be legal. In those cases we carefully removed from the hook and returned to the water, alive and able to swim away. I don't recall that any of these fish were mangled or mortally wounded, at least not with anything more severe than the minor cuts I suffered from the occasional fish hook which I somehow managed to get caught in my hand, which my Dad promptly removed.

In classic journalistic style, the NPR reporter sought the public's reaction to the campaign. In a move that I would have expected from The Onion or The Daily Show, the reporter went to what one might consider a hostile environment: members of a fourth-generation commercial fishing family in Alaska. The comments were about what you might expect. My favorite quote was from a 12-year old girl, with whom I couldn't agree more:

"I don't see fish as sea kittens; I see them as food."

After hearing this story, I took a few minutes to visit the peta.org web site and to look over their materials. While there I skimmed it and didn't find anything that changed my opinion about the rebranding. I took a minute and made a sea kitten avatar (see right) and in the process began to think about the incredible amount of money this organization must have spent on this absurd campaign. I've never given money to Peta, and honestly, after looking at how they spend donations, I will not do so in the future. If you care to read about the campaign for yourself, or create your own sea kitten avatar, visit the site at peta.org