‘Don’t Batter Us!’ – PETA Offers to Pay for Big Trout Sculpture Makeover
Adaminaby’s Big Trout sculpture will soon have a makeover, and PETA has sent the mayor of Snowy Monaro an intriguing offer: we’ll cover the repainting costs provided that the council add the fish rights message “Don’t Batter Us!” to the landmark’s belly.
Our letter includes a mock-up of the proposed message and explains to the mayor that fish are misunderstood and much maligned, but in all the ways that matter – including the ability to feel pain – they’re no different than you, me, or any other animal, including those with whom many of us share our homes.
Fish are smart and social. They can recognise shoalmates and change their behaviour to avoid hazards they’ve seen other fish fall victim to. Some gather information by cleverly eavesdropping, and others use tools. All of them suffer when they’re yanked from their watery homes – gasping for air while they suffocate – before being beheaded and gutted.
While the famed Adaminaby landmark represents a freshwater rainbow trout, PETA warns that all fishing is environmentally destructive. One-third of freshwater fish species are now threatened with extinction, and ocean trawlers damage delicate ecosystems and release planet-warming carbon. Abandoned ghost gear from all kinds of fishing harms animals long after it’s left behind, killing some 150,000 seals and cetaceans annually. Farming fish is no solution. Aside from the cruelty of confining living, feeling beings, these facilities increase the risk of disease and pollute waterways with nitrogen and phosphorus, leading to deadly algal blooms.
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