Posted on 02/20/2005 1:13:26 AM PST by Jet Jaguar
JUNEAU--An animal rights advocacy group is asking Gov. Frank Murkowski to make it illegal to catch and eat king salmon, Alaska's state fish.
The group known as People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals sent the request to Murkowski on Friday, saying fish are intelligent and feel pain.
"Fishing is an archaic and cruel way to spend time," said Karin Robertson, manager of the PETA Fish Empathy Project. "We feel that it's only a matter of time before people consider it cruelty."
Murkowski spokeswoman Becky Hultberg called the request "typical PETA propaganda." Hultberg said the request addressed Murkowski as the governor of Alabama.
"This just shows you how out of touch PETA is with reality," she said. "PETA has no understanding of the Alaska lifestyle."
University of Alaska economics professor Gunnar Knapp said the request is absurd.
"It strikes me as a publicity stunt," he said. "It's stupid and it's grossly insensitive to many, many people whose livelihoods depend on it."
Mike Plotnick, a research analyst with the Department of Fish and Game, said preliminary numbers value the commercial catch of king salmon at about $20 million for 2004. That represents about 800,000 king or chinook salmon caught last year, he said.
He laughed at them right?
That's what it sounds like.
good
Rondy has just started in Anchorage.
Iditarod is coming up fast.
PETA is just ramping up the BS machine to proceed with their annual attacks on Alaskans, aka "fund raising" down yonder in the socialist hives of the lower 48.
While sane Alaskans ROTFLTAO.
The fish get so nervous,they swim upstream and die. (Peta said so.)
Feed PETA to the polar bears.
They should not have laughed at PITA. I think Pita will try to get the last laugh in somehow...If i were those officials i would watch my back cause pita i'm sure will try to do something.
"...Fish Empathy Project..."
Seriously?
I laughed at that as well.
If the fish aren't caught, they die, flopping and gasping right after they lay eggs.
Scads of king salmon are harvested by animals like grizzlies and other bears, otters, etc. Maybe PETA should focus their efforts on those animals and leave the humans alone.
Roger that. The fish swim upstream and get weak and die. But the dirty humans have to catch them and eat them before their time. </sarcasm>
I get a fresh one shipped here every year from my brotherinlaw we smoke it with some brisket.
The envirowackos crack me up "what about the fishes feelings?"
Has anybody ever done a study to see if soybeans feel "pain"?
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