PETA Global AU 2022 Issue 2

BACK BY POPULAR DEMAND FISH OUT OF WATER Fish: © Inkwelldodo/Dreamstime.com • Fish Cartoon: © Robert Thompson/originally printed in The Oldie • Good Catch product: © Good Catch

Clever Quilters Working for a Sea Change

Needle and thread: © iStock.com/FlamingPumpkin

By Ingrid Newkirk

W hen we snatch fish from their natural homes and lives and doom them to a lonely life in captivity, swimming in their own diluted urine (yes, ugly but true) just so that we can possess them, look at them, use them as decorations, is it not an indictment of our own species? This is one fish’s story. In the morning, when the house was quiet, the fish spent his time at the end of the tank near the window, catching the sunlight on his fins. But at about 4:30 p.m., he swam to the other side of the tank and stared at the hallway door. At that time of day, the man came home from work. Before the key turned in the lock, the fish began “pacing,” swimming back and forth without letup. Every few laps, he paused and hung in the water, staring hopefully at the door. When the man entered the living room, the fish jumped and wagged his tail like a dog, lifting a fifth of his body clear out of the water. The man gently scratched the fish’s back, the fish offering first one Fish just want to have fun. Cichlids have been documented playing with weighted thermometers, knocking them over and watching them bounce back. I

Are you a quilter? Donate a square to PETA! To draw attention to who fish are and what they endure, PETA members and supporters created the Fish Empathy Quilt, which PETA took on a US tour. Compassionate quilters have already donated more than 100 handmade squares and shared their stories. One Canadian quilter told PETA that she and her grandfather stopped fishing for “fun” because of the cruelty involved. They found other ways to spend time together instead.

side of his body to be petted then the other.

truck to the pet store, and then in the car on the way home. Others succumbed to epidemics of “ich,” which destroyed their fins, sending them spinning helplessly to the bottom of the tank.

suffered a terrible injury. When the substitute tank was set up, he couldn’t breathe properly or keep his balance. Within a week of the injured elephant nose’s death, his companion died, too. After that, the old fish was alone again. The first time I saw him, he had only been about half an inch long. As he grew, so did my understanding that there was something wrong with the speciesist idea of keeping fish as decorations.

If you or someone you know would like to help expand the Fish Empathy Quilt, please visit PETA.org/FishEmpathyQuilt . And if you have connections to a museum where the quilt could be displayed, please e-mail info@peta.org.au.

The fish tried to make the best of what was otherwise a plain life. He cleaned rocks by rolling them around in his mouth, swam through the hair curlers fastened together to form a “jungle gym,” and tickled his back in the bubbles from the aerator. Once, he swam purposefully to the west end of the tank, seized a plastic plant in his tiny jaws, and dragged it to the east end. The next day, when the man tidied the tank and put the plant back “in its place,” the fish moved it again to the new spot he had chosen for it. The fish had devised a sport to alleviate his endless boredom. When he saw a cat tiptoe over the bookshelves to lap water from the aquarium, he would lie in wait. When the cat’s tongue descended, he burst into action, propelling himself up through the reeds like a torpedo. The cat might get one lap in before tongue and fish met. The fish outlived all newcomers to his tank. Some died of “seasickness” – the trauma of sloshing around in the transport bag from ocean to distributor, in the

Take Action Now Fish are friends – not food, decorations, or

I

On the Saturday when the tank

objects to be used for recreation. Collect unwanted fishing tackle from friends and family (after you persuade them to stop fishing).

cracked, there were only two other fish left, little African

It’s o fish al: Vegan seafood maker Good Catch netted PETA’s 2021 Company of the Year Award, and its fishless fillets and crab-free cakes are now on the menu at fast-food chain Long John Silver’s!

And if you still eat fish, visit PETA.org.au/VSK for your free vegan starter kit.

“elephant noses.” The man had been at the movies and returned to find water all over the floor. In the inch of liquid left in the bottom of the tank, three individuals lay on their sides, dying. The senior fish was whisked into a large pot. One elephant nose went into a saucepan, the other into a coffee pot. But this last little fish struggled and

Global

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THERE’S A BEING IN THAT BOWL

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