Hello fellow girl angler!!! Where do you live? I am between two excellent Bass lakes in California. The bite is magnum right now with live minnows, due to shad spawning.
So PETA helped pay attorney fees for an ALF arsonist? Was he convicted? I've always viewed PETA as a comic show, despite my general support for kindness to animals and alternatives to animal testing, where possible. I donate yearly to spay/neuter programs. I agree with them on certain issues, such as shooting exotic animals in small enclosed areas (hunting farms) and cock fighting. But I've got a freezer full of deer, and a cow who will be slaughtered this spring. Those animals had/have better lives than a factory farm animal. So in my own way, I minimize animal suffering and do what I can, reasonably, to reduce animal suffering. I plead guilty to murdering fish and live bait. But there is that part of me that mistakenly thinks air escaping from a catfish after being caught is his plea for life. Once I actually thought a catfish called out my name! I let him go and I admit to moments of sentimentality when a fish I intended to eat looked at me a certain way. If I were on some weird drug, I could see myself in PETA.
I am in east Tennessee, with a choice of wild trout streams, big reservoirs, tailwater trout fishing and lots more within a few miles. I never met a fish I didn't enjoy catching, including carp.
Rodney Cornado was convicted. PETA is more than a comic show, as is other "respected" (hm) animal rights groups, even if they claim to be "animal protection groups." The last time I checked HSUS raised more than $40 million annually and doesn't spend anything on spaying/neutering/housing/feeding animals. They mostly spend their bucks on huge salaries for employees and board members, and efforts to end hunting, fishing, animal research, wearing fur, eating meat, circuses, rodeos, etc.
If you are donating money to the national groups to protect animals you are putting a noose around your own neck if you like to hunt humanely, believe it is okay for mice to die to develop cures and treatments for major human dieases (also for cures and treatments for your pets) and like to eat or wear animal products.
Most people believe when they donate to these groups they are helping hoomeless animals at local shelters. Not true. Local shelters receive no funding from these mega-organizations.
I have researched these groups for years as part of my job and can tell you you DON'T want to give them money. Here are some links to check out, and this is just a drop in the bucket to the info available on them (don't have the url and am in a hurry but try Americans For Medical Progress, Consumer Freedom.com and the Better Business Bureau for info). If you want to protect animals, particularly wildlife, then buying a hunting/fishing license is the best thing you can do. I am not in the medical field, so I am not advocating anything.
I fish and hunt, and I am opposed to canned hunts. However, I advise strongly not to support these groups.
Happy hooking (angling)