PETA Billboards Claim Fish Friends, Not Food

NEWPORT BEACH, Calif. -- Four billboards sponsored by the People for the
Ethical Treatment of Animals have caused some controversy in Newport Beach
Wednesday, NBC4 reported.

The billboards, which depict model Carre Otis dressed as a mermaid covered
 with scales and paired with the tagline, "Fish Are Friends, Not Food!,
" are part of PETA's national "Fish Empathy Project."

The project hopes to convince residents of the seaside Southland town that
fish are not only intelligent, but eating fish may hurt consumers due to
the possibly dangerous levels of mercury in seafood.

"There has been evidence that children have been slowing down mentally and
physically, having physical problems that were due directly to eating too
much tuna fish," Lisa Lange, a PETA spokeswoman, said.

Some local fisherman like their fish as food, however.

"The oceans pretty much cleanse themselves," fisherman Mike McNamara said. "There's a lot of fishing in the Great Lakes where I'm from as well.
It's surprising that I would hear that."

PETA maintains that fish are interestig and intelligent, much like dogs
and cats.

"Fish are not swimming vegetables, they're complex and intelligent animals
who feel fear and pain, just like we do," said PETA President Ingrid E.
Newkirk, in a PETA press release. "We're asking people to get hooked on
compassion and go vegetarian."

http://www.nbc4.tv/news/4865346/detail.html

I don't get PETA pushing people to eat more vegetables.  If more people ate more vegetables, that means more farm land needed to produce those vegetables.  The more farmland needed, the more deforestation.  The more deforestation, the more animals die.  So how is that treating animals ethically?  Okay, so we don't eat you, but we'll bulldoze your homes.  Call me crazy but that's fucked up.

Not to mention that farming produces greater problems for wild animals, such as pollution through pesticides and fertilizer.  Also, think about all of those rabbits, gophers, and other small animals gowing into the fields to grab themselves some cabbage or lettuce, maybe some carrots and then they get mauled by the giant tractors and plows used to harvest the food.

I think they're better off dying humanely at the ends of a cattle farmer than being crushed and torn apart by heavy machinery, atleast that way we put their bodies to good use and their death has some meaning.

I think when it comes to PETA it's a lose-lose situation.  The only way we can ever be completely humane to animals is if we starve ourselves.