Animals Are Not Ours to experiment on, eat, wear, use for entertainment or abuse in any other way.

PETA Australia
  • Action Centre
  • Campaigns
  • Living
  • News
  • About
  • EMAIL SIGN-UP
  • DONATE NOW
    • VANGUARD SOCIETY
    • PETA PRESENTS
    • SUPPORT OUR WORK
    • MEMBERSHIP SERVICES
    • GIFTS IN WILLS
  • EMAIL SIGN-UP
  • DONATE NOW
    • VANGUARD SOCIETY
    • PETA PRESENTS
    • SUPPORT OUR WORK
    • MEMBERSHIP SERVICES
    • GIFTS IN WILLS
  • EMAIL SIGN-UP
  • DONATE NOW
    • VANGUARD SOCIETY
    • PETA PRESENTS
    • SUPPORT OUR WORK
    • MEMBERSHIP SERVICES
    • GIFTS IN WILLS
  • Action Centre
  • Campaigns
  • Living
  • News
  • About
  • EMAIL SIGN-UP
  • DONATE NOW
    • VANGUARD SOCIETY
    • PETA PRESENTS
    • SUPPORT OUR WORK
    • MEMBERSHIP SERVICES
    • GIFTS IN WILLS
PETA Australia
  • EMAIL SIGN-UP
  • DONATE NOW
    • VANGUARD SOCIETY
    • PETA PRESENTS
    • SUPPORT OUR WORK
    • MEMBERSHIP SERVICES
    • GIFTS IN WILLS
PETA Search Icon
fish

Joaquin Phoenix Is Drowning

News / Joaquin Phoenix Is Drowning

Award-winning actor and animal lover Joaquin Phoenix struggles underwater, panic in his eyes and on his face, in a new ad that asks people to try to relate to frightened and panicked fish who die agonising deaths after being pulled from the water.

Joaquin has won many awards for his performances and has been nominated for an Academy Award this year for his role in The Master, but his devotion to the well-being of animals is no act. In this video, Joaquin re-enacts the terror that fish experience in the last moments of their lives.

Joaquin Phoenix remembers: “I was 3 years old—to this day it is a vivid memory. My family and I were on a boat, catching fish. As one fish was caught, he was writhing, then he was thrown against the side of the boat. You couldn’t disguise what it was. This was what we did to animals to eat them. The animal went from a living, vibrant creature fighting for life to a violent death. I recognised it, as did my brothers and sisters”.

Fish are smart, interesting animals with unique personalities, and just like dogs, cats and humans, they feel pain. Scientists who study pain are in complete agreement that the pain response in fish is basically identical to the pain response system in mammals and birds. But the fish industry worldwide slaughters billions of fish for food each year.

Every single one of those billions of fish are stolen from the water, fighting for breath, feeling their chest move slower and slower, until they finally die an agonising death. Without any legal protection from cruel treatment, these complex animals are impaled, crushed, suffocated or cut open and gutted, all while they’re conscious.

Fish don’t want to suffocate on land just as we don’t want to drown in water. You can stop their suffering. Take the pledge to go vegan.

Posted by Claire Fryer

Please join PETA’s “Save Our Skin” Challenge right now!

Donate Now

Recent Press Hits

  • Gradient background with a white rabbit silhouette and the text ‘PETA.’
    PETA Urges Councils to Go Vegan for Climate Resilient 
  • Gradient background with a white rabbit silhouette and the text ‘PETA.’
    Pamplona 2025: What to Expect at the Running of the Bulls
  • Gradient background with a white rabbit silhouette and the text ‘PETA.’
    Exposé of Indian Laboratory Reveals Bloodied Dogs and Pigs

Get PETA Updates

Sign me up for the following e-mail:
Our collection, storage, use and disclosure of personal information is guided by the Privacy Act and the Australian Privacy Principles. More information about our privacy policies and practices is available in our privacy policy. That policy also details how you may access, seek correction of and pursue complaints regarding the personal information we hold about you. If you have any queries about these procedures or any aspect of our work, please contact us on (08) 8556 5828 or at [email protected] or write to us at PO Box 20308, World Square, Sydney NSW 2002. Current subscribers: You will continue to receive e-mails unless you explicitly opt out here.
PETA Fist Logo

Connect with PETA

  • Facebook Icon, PETA International
  • Instagram Icon, PETA International
  • Youtube Icon, PETA International

PETA International Logo

Mailing address:
PO Box 20308 World Square Sydney NSW 2002 ACN – 128209923

Info

  • Contact Us
  • Media Centre
  • Careers
  • Donate Now
  • Subscribe to E-News
  • Bequests

Services

  • Accessibility
  • Site Map
  • Disclaimer
  • Privacy Policy
  • © 2025 PETA Australia Pty Ltd. Read our full policy.

International Sites

  • PETA US
  • PETA France
  • PETA Netherlands
  • PETA Germany
  • PETA India
  • PETA UK
  • PETA Asia
  • 亚洲善待动物组织
  • PETA Latino

PETA acknowledges the traditional custodians of the land on which we work and live. We pay our respects to elders past and present and extend that respect to all other indigenous peoples.

Registered address: PETA Australia Pty Ltd, 219 Henley Beach Road, Torrensville. SA, 5031