As Illinois' Unpaid Bills Mount, Chief Executive Plans to Spend a Small Fortune to Teach Residents How to Maim Fish
For Immediate Release:
June 13, 2011
Contact:
Kristin Richards 202-483-7382
Springfield, Ill. -- Today, PETA sent an urgent letter to Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn urging him to permanently sink the Illinois Urban Fishing Program, in which city residents, mostly children, are taught to fish. The new state budget for this program would set the cash-strapped state back $365,400. In the letter, PETA points out to Quinn—whose winter budget address included a pledge to eliminate all unnecessary spending—that the program is a monumental waste of money at a time when the state can least afford it and that study after study shows that fish are sensitive animals who feel pain just as all animals do.
"The idea of spending more than $365,000 to teach kids how to torment fish for fun at a time when the state is cutting spending on education and other vital programs should be blown right out of the water," says PETA Executive Vice President Tracy Reiman. "This money would be much better spent on nonviolent programs that will help get kids hooked on compassion—not on a program that teaches them that it's OK to injure and torment defenseless animals."
For more information, please visit PETA.com.
PETA's letter to Gov. Quinn follows.
June 13, 2011
The Honorable Pat Quinn
Governor of Illinois
Dear Gov. Quinn:
I am writing on behalf of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) and our more than 2 million members and supporters, including thousands across Illinois, to respectfully urge you to end state funding for the Illinois Urban Fishing Program for the sake of kids, Illinois taxpayers, and the fish themselves, who suffer greatly because of this misguided program.
The only lesson that fishing teaches children is that violence is acceptable when it is directed toward those who look different or are smaller and weaker than us. Furthermore, if participants use the "skills" they learn in these fishing classes to catch fish to eat, they will be putting their health at risk. Fish flesh tends to contain large amounts of toxins such as mercury and PCBs, which accumulate in the bodies of people who eat them and can promote impaired mental function, memory loss, cancer, and birth defects.
Fishing is a blood sport that causes physical and psychological suffering: Fish have particularly sensitive mouths and lips that they use in much the same way that we use our hands. Removing a hook often results in painful injuries to the fish's lips, throat, mouth, and face, and these injuries can easily become infected. Research shows that fish who are caught and thrown back into the water ("catch-and-release" fishing) often die from their injuries, stress, or the loss of their protective outer coating. As Ellen DeGeneres points out, catch-and-release fishing is like running down pedestrians with your car and then, when they get up and limp away, saying, "Off you go! That's fine. I just wanted to see if I could hit you." If cats or dogs were the victims of similar abuse, the perpetrators could be thrown in jail for cruelty to animals. A lack of understanding and knowledge about fish allows this cruelty to continue.
There is a vast amount of scientific evidence that fish feel pain. The journal Fish and Fisheries cited more than 500 research papers on fish intelligence and concluded that fish are intelligent animals with sophisticated social structures. Dr. Donald Broom, scientific advisor to the British government, has said, "The scientific literature is quite clear. Anatomically, physiologically, and biologically, the pain system in fish is virtually the same as in birds and mammals."
Please take a second look at this program and redirect these taxpayer dollars to schools and other vital, useful, nonviolent state programs that everyone can get behind.
Thank you for your consideration.
Very truly yours,
Ingrid E. Newkirk
President