Fish Feel Pain?

Just came across this article on MSN. After my poor showing in the LPO this weekend I also feel pain…I guess me and the ‘eyes are even.

http://www.msnbc.com/news/907199.asp

At least its only half as much as the pain my ears go through listening to PETA types ramble on.
I am all for PETA. People Eat Tasty Animals.
Always have and always will.
jc

Jeez… who would figure that INJECTING Bee venom or acetic acid into them would cause adverse effects? Do that to a human, and they could die. Some people have way to much time on their hands.

As long as they don’t start arguing that fish are offended by our conduct, I think I’ll be okay. God gave us those critters and he speaks of fishing many times over in His book. Not to mention, we’re given “dominion over them”.

We watch people die on the news from car manufacturers and sporting activities like NASCAR. Does that make Ford and GM cruel for making cars? People suffer. Animals suffer. Fish suffer. If hunting brings an inner peace, the animal loses. If fishing brings an inner peace, the fish is getting a hook! LIFE is suffering to some degree or other. BUT, being at the top has it’s advantages and we’ll continue using resources to alleviate those same sufferings to some degree or other.

Better question………….if animals are the examples of behavior (no really………..some people argue this……….and in some cases, I do too but that’s another for some other day), are lions cruel for maming their own? Killing cheetahs just for the sake of killing them? Deer gouge each other and other animals in acts of aggression……….are they cruel? I’ve seen housecats mame and release! They’ve all got a reason and so do we………….FISH ON!!!

Copied from somewher..

People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) has new billboards out that claim fishing is cruel. I totally agree. The last time I went, all I caught was a sunburn, three hooks in the back of my thigh and hell from my pals for forgetting the Off.

Unfortunately, this is not what PETA means. PETA means fishing is cruel to the fish. Seriously. PETA plans to put up billboards across the U.S. and in Canada that show a Labrador retriever with a hook in his bloody lip. IF YOU WOULDN’T DO IT TO A DOG, the signs say, WHY DO IT TO A FISH?

And, of course, the answer is: Because fish do not bring me my slippers.

Look, I wailed for the whales. I fumed over fur. I emotionally clubbed myself over the baby seals. But I’ll be damned if I’m going to weep over a walleye.

PETA says fish feel pain and that to snag one with a steel hook, drag it along for 50 yards or so and then haul it out of the water so it suffocates is sick. “Why do we throw a Frisbee to some animals and a barbed hook to others?” PETA asks on its website.

And, of course, the answer is: Because fish really suck at catching Frisbees.

PETA thinks it’s evil to eat fish, too. But why should we stop eating them when they eat each other? Besides, they had their chance to evolve. They could’ve crawled out of the primordial ooze with us, but they didn’t. They decided to stay behind and swim in the water they pee in and go around never blinking. When fish lift their scaly butts past us in the food chain, they can eat us. Until then, pass the tartar sauce.

PETA even says catch-and-release is cruel. They say the harm and stress caused by being caught and released is sometimes enough to kill the fish later on. As if the fish go straight into therapy after being caught.

Fish: I’m telling you, Doc, I was just minding my own business when I got hauled into the sky, examined by some weird beings and then thrown back!

Fish psychiatrist: Lemme guess. A UFO, right?

I mean, what’s PETA going to do? You’ll be sitting at the counter in the deli, and suddenly, the PETA police will come running in, shouting, “All right, back away from the tuna melt and nobody gets hurt!” My God, we’re talking about fish here. Fish have a brain the size of a corn kernel.

Professor James Rose, a University of Wyoming neuroscientist, studied fish for years and determined that they lack a neocortex (parts of which process the brain’s response to pain), much like Cubs fans. Besides, if fish are so smart, why can you catch a fish, throw it back and then, two hours later, catch the same fish? I mean, do you really want to save something dumber than Robert Downey Jr.?

Didn’t Jesus fish? He seemed like a pretty sensitive guy. When He zapped up all those fishes for 5,000 people, what do you think He did with them, throw them back?

I know, I know — I hate hunting. But sitting in the back of a pickup, taking a rifle with an infrared scope and killing a deer from 1,000 yards away is not nearly the same thing as standing up to your spleen in icy rushing river water, trying to cast the perfectly tied fly into the perfect eddy to catch a rainbow trout. Is it our fault that the trout falls for it? Tell you what: I will get behind hunting when hunters come up with a shoot-and-release program.

Why does PETA stop at fish? Where does PETA stand on the plight of the worm? And plankton? And the 1,000,000 micro-organisms that are crushed by your boots every time you go on a nature hike? Have these PETA vegetarians ever gotten close to a broccoli to hear its screams as it’s violently yanked from its birthplace and boiled to death?

Fishing is cruel? I always thought fishing was one of the most peaceful things you could do. What are fathers and sons supposed to do together, knit sweaters out of each other’s navel lint? What are we supposed to read, Hemingway’s Old Man and the Parking Lot?

Great reading Bogsucker: I loved it, carefull with the Cubs stuff!

PETA nuff said

Boguscker, BACK away from the TUNA MELT, good humor, thanks. Jack.

Hey Bogsucker–ya said you’d get behind hunting when hunters came up with a “shoot and release”. Obviously ya never been with me in a duck blind, very little damage to the ducks but the ammo manufacturers are getting rich. I understand what you’re saying about PETA and agree wholeheartedly .

Great reading for the most part. You may not like hunting, but if you ever kill a fish, what’s the difference??

if i understand that first statement right bogsucker didn’t even right this it is still absoulutly hilarious.

I believe the entire article is from Sports Illustrated.

Great post bogsucker. I agree that the members of PETA find it hard to channel their energy into something productive. Did you see that they want the town of Hamburg, NJ to change it’s name to Veggieburg? You can’t make this up. Is this really one of the greatest issues facing us in the 21st century? I must have missed the press releases on us winning the war on drugs, eliminating world hunger, homelessness, diseases etc etc. I applaud their enthusiasm and passion – just wish they could funnel it toward more pressing issues. Sorry for rambling, the morning coffee is just kicking in.

Good post Bogsucker. I was right with you until you went after hunters.Your image of hunters shooting out of pick-ups with laser guided gear isn’t any more accurate than one of slob fishermen throwing rough fish and garbage all over the banks. As for catch and release what about a hunter who passes up several deer to maybe take the one wanted or the hunter who shoots only drake mallards or hunters who spend months and lots of money getting ready for a hunt and come home empty handed because they weren’t offered a safe ethical shot.Remember ” We must all hang together or we will surely hang seperately” Personally I think that strict catch and release is an unethical form of fishing because you are harming another species just for your own entertanment rather than a higher purpose ie sustinance.

Again, the entire text is from Sports Illustrated. I am a hunter and a fisherman. Fish are food, I eat most of what I catch and all of what I shoot. I fish because I like to eat fish and I release those fish that are of spawning size so that I may eat more fish. I don’t care if people practice strict C&R as I eat fish and the fewer fish they kill the more fish I can eat. And I don’t care if fish can feel pain as I eat them with great pleasure.

this is an issue I often dont dignify with a reply… I have a viceral reaction when I read things like this…. my gut tells me their wrong.. and so does my heart…. sometimes it takes a while for my mind to come up with the why…. so Ive thought about this quite a bit over the last couple of days…
is the issue really whether fish feel pain?.. this is the battleground of PETA’s choosing.. but they will use any weapon to get their way…. as will we….
but to tell you the truth pain is NOT the issue here…. as I thought about this and remembered the arguments we have shown here… we all have points that are right…. its true fishing IS portrayed in the bible… and that WOULD make it a God given right…. but not everyone is pious, let alone Christian…. if they were that would be the end of the debate….. its true that fishing is part of our culture and tradition… passed on from parents to kids…. through generations…. but not everyone respects culture and tradition….
fishing is an ancient occupation and passtime…. why is that? because there is something very right about fishing….. in this day and age when so many things remove us from nature, fishing is one of the very FEW things that bring us back…..
Is the reality of Nature portrayed in the Disney movie Bambi? if you were to listen to PETA you would think is was…. but if you have lived in nature, as part of nature you KNOW that Nature is better portrayed by the immortal (very) short film Bambi VS Godzilla….. now THAT is nature…. the strong survive… its NATURE…. nature is NOT a ZOO…. its NOT a KIDS show… its very very REAL… its harsh, uncaring, brutal even…. survival is NOT guaranteed….. not even ours!… dare we loose our tenuous links to this reality? the sports of hunting and fishing are our last true links to the real world of nature….
true hunters and fisherman respect and love their quarry…. when your Dad taught you about hunting… what were his issues? My Dad taught me about safety…. but equally important to him was respect for the fish, the game, the land, the rights of land owners,… many of lifes good lessons were taught to me through the process of learning to hunt and fish….
As Hunters and Anglers… we need to continue to love and respect our resources, and to promote the wise use and conservation of these things we love… this is something that we as hunters and anglers are more willing to do, and better equiped to understand than some animal rights activist whos childlike understanding of nature has come from watching Bambi and playing with their pets…. if only their parents would have taken them fishing……. now Im afraid it would take a dose of being tossed into an Alaskan wilderness for a month or two to forage as part of the food chain (not the TOP!) for them to begin to understand what nature and therefore life is all about…..

I’m sure the fishes biggest pain when caught by me is embarrassment. Their friends must tease them terribly for being so stupid.
PETA will be especially concerned because I’ve hurt their feelings.

Geez my grass is a living creature, you suppose it feels pain when I cut it with the mower. Guess I better stop mowing…. Give me a break!

Troy

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Geez my grass is a living creature, you suppose it feels pain when I cut it with the mower. Guess I better stop mowing…. Give me a break!

Troy

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Sure sounds like a good excuse anyway. I will try that on my wife!!!