Sea Kittens: PETA's attempt to make fish more adorable

[shapu]

IHMO - Best quote from the article:

“I don't see fish as sea kittens; I see them as food.”
Chastity Haskins, 12

Hmmm.. I think I'll have the fillet of sea kitten today.

I wonder what an underwater meow sounds like?

[Mongrel]

I feel the need to sum up this thread:

PETA = bad.
Taking care of marine ecosystems = good.

I wonder what an underwater meow sounds like?

"Bloop."

[Kitten Medli]

I saw this a bit ago. It didn't make any sense to me. It's honestly a good message, since fish are often disregarded as less important than other animals, but nobody really takes PETA seriously. Its a serious shame that they've given animal rights such a horrible reputation.

[Siniri]

I wonder what an underwater meow sounds like?

"Bloop."

I love you, Mongrel. This is the kind of thing that I can laugh about for days, every time I recall it.

[unspecialfish]

I think it's hillarious.
But I think it's also trying to make a very important point. The oceans are being seriously harvested and brutalized. The estimates on how long it will take the fisheries to collapse keep shortening. The amount of waste and destruction that is happening in the oceans right now is sickening.
Everyone thinks about whales and how nice they are. Who thinks about sharks? Or cod? Or other fish that aren't so pretty? At least PETA is trying.
It's more then I can say for a lot of other organizations.

I love Whales! I'm all for cleaning their environment and any other inhabitants in it xD

[Christopher]

I think it's hillarious.
But I think it's also trying to make a very important point. The oceans are being seriously harvested and brutalized. The estimates on how long it will take the fisheries to collapse keep shortening. The amount of waste and destruction that is happening in the oceans right now is sickening.
Everyone thinks about whales and how nice they are. Who thinks about sharks? Or cod? Or other fish that aren't so pretty? At least PETA is trying.
It's more then I can say for a lot of other organizations.

I love Whales! I'm all for cleaning their environment and any other inhabitants in it xD

Nobody's listening until you change your username to unspecialseakitten.

[unspecialfish]

I think it's hillarious.
But I think it's also trying to make a very important point. The oceans are being seriously harvested and brutalized. The estimates on how long it will take the fisheries to collapse keep shortening. The amount of waste and destruction that is happening in the oceans right now is sickening.
Everyone thinks about whales and how nice they are. Who thinks about sharks? Or cod? Or other fish that aren't so pretty? At least PETA is trying.
It's more then I can say for a lot of other organizations.

I love Whales! I'm all for cleaning their environment and any other inhabitants in it xD

Nobody's listening until you change your username to unspecialseakitten.

Hahaha! I completely forgot my screen name was unspecialfish for a second xD

[Blue]

Nobody's listening until you change your username to unspecialseakitten.

Thats funny... PETA apparently sent a letter to the principal of Spearfish High School asking them to change their name, too. I laughed out loud from this one...

January 7, 2009

Steve Morford, Principal
Spearfish High School

Dear Principal Morford

I'm writing to you on behalf of PETA, the world's largest animal rights organization, with more than 2 million members and supporters. In early October, PETA launched its Sea Kitten campaign, which suggests a name-change for fish as a way to promote empathy for them and other marine animals. Today, we're proposing that Spearfish High School adopt a new name to reflect the gentle nature of its current marine namesake.

We're hoping that by calling fish "sea kittens," compassionate people who would never hurt a dog or a cat will realize that fish feel pain and fear, just like furry and winged animals do. In fact, neurobiologists tell us that fish have complex nervous systems that comprehend and respond to pain. Fish communicate and develop relationships with one another, show affection by gently rubbing against other fish, and even grieve when their companions die. However, when they are dragged from the ocean's depths, sea kittens undergo excruciating decompression, often causing their eyes to pop out and pushing their stomachs out through their mouths. When they are tossed onto ships' decks, many sea kittens slowly suffocate or are crushed to death. This is no way to treat a "kitten."

Most parents would never dream of spending a family weekend torturing kittens, but hooking fish through their mouths and pulling them through the water is just as painful as hooking a cat's mouth and dragging him or her behind a car. We're hoping that this name change will encourage people young and old to start treating these gentle "kittens of the sea" with respect--and show them the kindness that they deserve.

We hope that Spearfish High School will start off the semester right by changing its name to Sea Kitten High School. Thank you for your time.

Sincerely,

Dan Shannon
Assistant Director


Source: http://www.peta.org/mc/NewsItem.asp?id=12437

PETA has done some good things for animals, but its stuff like this that just makes them look ... ummm ...

[Christopher]

Spearfish, Spearkitten, it's all the same great taste down at Ackbar's rotisserie!

[Byakuya San]

I think that PETA is going about this the wrong way. While it would be nice to raise a bit more awareness for fish like they're trying, doing so with such an absurd campaign probably won't get them very far.

For now, I'll just stick to supporting the manatees.

[Asthaloth]

On a side note, I would gladly apply my considerable energy and willpower to saving the whales or whatever, if they let me wipe out the [Bottle nose] dolphins.

Hear me PETA?
One species, that is all I ask.

[ahoteinrun]

What exactly is the right way?

If you were doing a campaign to gain general knowledge about the decimation of ocean life how would you go about doing it? Putting out reports, or papers hasn't worked, so what will? A few reports released in my province a few weeks ago barely garnered a mention in the paper.

What will it take? (too little too late IMO anyways, but whatever).

[Pudding]

It's bad that I saw this while I was having a conversation with my roommate about maybe being a pescatarian for a while, isn't it?

What exactly is the right way?

If you were doing a campaign to gain general knowledge about the decimation of ocean life how would you go about doing it? Putting out reports, or papers hasn't worked, so what will? A few reports released in my province a few weeks ago barely garnered a mention in the paper.

What will it take? (too little too late IMO anyways, but whatever).

I'd do some advertisements that represent the problem well visually, rather than loud invitations to ridicule. Most people who know about overfishing at least lay off the orange roughy and the Pacific salmon; it's probably worthwhile to increase the size of that group before you break out the weird terminology. A TV commercial (or even an online banner ad) about the depletion of oceanic resources could direct people to a website with more facts about the issue and what they can do about it.

This is just kind of weird and silly and designed to appeal to 11 year-old non-Alaskan girls.

[ahoteinrun]

It's bad that I saw this while I was having a conversation with my roommate about maybe being a pescatarian for a while, isn't it?

What exactly is the right way?

If you were doing a campaign to gain general knowledge about the decimation of ocean life how would you go about doing it? Putting out reports, or papers hasn't worked, so what will? A few reports released in my province a few weeks ago barely garnered a mention in the paper.

What will it take? (too little too late IMO anyways, but whatever).

I'd do some advertisements that represent the problem well visually, rather than loud invitations to ridicule. Most people who know about overfishing at least lay off the orange roughy and the Pacific salmon; it's probably worthwhile to increase the size of that group before you break out the weird terminology. A TV commercial (or even an online banner ad) about the depletion of oceanic resources could direct people to a website with more facts about the issue and what they can do about it.

This is just kind of weird and silly and designed to appeal to 11 year-old non-Alaskan girls.

Money money money money... Putting something on a website is cheaper. And how many people pay attention to commercials? For getting the word out, the world wide web, does a wonderful and frankly cheap job. And this is at least, getting the word out there, ridicule or not. It is absolutely ridiculous. And yet... it's working. To get the spread and breadth of advertisement that this is, I doubt they could have done it with serious articles.

And I hate myself right now for defending PETA. But I think I get why they're doing what they did.

[Siniri]

I'd do some advertisements that represent the problem well visually, rather than loud invitations to ridicule. Most people who know about overfishing at least lay off the orange roughy and the Pacific salmon; it's probably worthwhile to increase the size of that group before you break out the weird terminology. A TV commercial (or even an online banner ad) about the depletion of oceanic resources could direct people to a website with more facts about the issue and what they can do about it.

The best tactic I saw was a little wallet-sized card that briefly explained the problem and color-coded fish according to "okay to eat copiously," "eat rarely" and "please avoid" -- with little shapes and names of many popular fish. It helped change my fish-shopping. Now, where did I put the darn thing?

Yes, "sea kittens" is gaining attention, but much of that is eye-rolling instead of education -- I'm quite sure my brother and dad would laugh at those nutters at PETA going crazy again, but if they were given one of the cards and some scientific (i.e., peer-reviewed) facts, they might just change their behavior. Which is really the point.