Provocative Protest Set for Rapid City
For Immediate Release:
September 26, 2011
Contact:
Shakira Croce 202-483-7382
Rapid City, S.D. -- Holding signs that read, "Don't Let Your Kids Become Hookers," and handing out newly designed leaflets that show a gruesome picture of a hooked fish, PETA members will bring a brand-new anti-fishing campaign to Rapid City on Tuesday. PETA's point? That parents who fish send their children the dangerous message that it's acceptable to torment and kill animals. The protest is a part of a week of PETA actions around National Fish Amnesty Day on September 24.
When: Tuesday, September 27, 12 noon
Where: 513 7th Street, in front of Dakota Angler and Outfitter fishing shop, Rapid City
"Parents should get their kids hooked on compassion, not on maiming and killing fish," says PETA campaigner Virginia Fort. "Causing these gentle animals of the sea to suffocate to death or die slowly from infections caused by hooks is animal abuse, plain and simple."
Fish are intelligent, sensitive animals who experience stress and pain when they are cruelly hooked or hauled up from the deep in commercial nets. Fish who are caught and released also experience pain and often die from their injuries. The journal Fish and Fisheries cited more than 500 research papers on fish intelligence demonstrating that fish are smart, that they can use tools, and that they have impressive long-term memories and sophisticated social structures.
For more information about PETA, please visit PETA.org or FishingHurts.com.
