You go PETA!

by | Tuesday | July 14, 2009 | 12 comments

Those nasty, nasty vets at the American Veterinary Medical Association are at it again. They decided to have their annual convention in Seattle, and one of their events allowed some people to participate in a fish toss at the Pike Place Fish Market. Quelle horreur!

Because, you know, veterinarians are known for, um, hating animal life and wanting to abuse it and all.

Thank you, PETA, for drawing attention to this terrible and important issue of veterinarians tossing fish at a market that is famous for people tossing fish.

MERMAID KILLERS! AUGH! THE HUMANITY!

Oh…wait…sea kitten killers. Pardon me. PETA, I’m about as sympathetic as you’re going to get in terms of your average, non nutso animal rights person, but even I have a hard time getting behind the concept of sea kittens. They are not kittens, they’re fish. Scaly non-mammalian members of the Class Osteichthyes who will never be as cheek pinchingly adorable as a furry feline. Sorry.

And the sign in the background? AVMA Supports Pain? That’s news to me. As far as I knew, AVMA supported people who bust their ass for 8 years of college in order to alleviate pain and suffering and promote humane treatment of the very same food and companion animals PETA seems to enjoy painting themselves and dressing up as. Maybe if you guys spent less time attention whoring yourselves naked in glitter paint and more time actually learning about the legitimate animal welfare issues I take seriously, I could take YOU seriously.

Ahhhhhhh, that felt good.

The AVMA’s official response was more diplomatic:

The American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA) respects and values PETA’s right to express an opinion and hold a peaceful demonstration at our 146th Annual Convention in Seattle. On the other hand, we disagree with their position on our use of fish during an educational and motivational presentation by the fishmongers of Pike Place Fish Market.

There are no better advocates for animals than veterinarians, because we care for the well-being of all animals. We have some very well-founded animal welfare principles that include the responsible use of animals, including fish, for food purposes. We believe that this event is consistent with those principles.

Later on in the press release the AVMA excitedly announced the 2010 conference in Nova Scotia, and implored all veterinarians interested in the Opening Ceremony Seal Clubbing to register early.

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  • jw

    ok.

    I’m so ….lol…I’ll have to come back. NO EFF’n words at how outraged I am with peta.

    *calm down, breath deep.*

  • Kim

    Admit it! You ate a sea kitten for lunch. Just admit it so we know why you are hating on PETA – the voice of reason for the animals. Sure, my animals would probably cover their eyes in shame to know that these people are speaking for them, but let’s pay no mind to that.

    • Kim

      Oh – and I too am a huge proponent of animal rights, am meat-shy, even have that little bunny book to know of truly cruelty-free companies and this kind insanity makes me think that animal rights always takes a step back with this kind of demonstration.

  • Sara

    I’ll have you know that I’m a card-carrying member of PETA.

    That stands for “people eating tasty animals”

    I’m sure you’ve heard that one before ;) but I just couldn’t resist…

  • http://www.shaneandcasey.com Shane

    This just proves how insane PETA is. Pretty soon they’ll get upset about the President swatting a fly.

  • Nan

    Gotta love this Vet!

  • http://a99kitten.com/ Celeste

    I generally love animals more than people. But PETA’s tactics just make anyone who might side with animals rights look like loons. I appreciated their efforts more years ago but feel their shock tactics now simply alienate people. Although having fish-tossing at a vet conference seems like an idea that was NOT thought too well by the planning committee (hellooooo!) Just found your blog via twitter!

  • Wild Honey

    “You go…” figure out another way to intelligently and factually make your points, “…PETA!” That post title would’ve been a bit closer to the truth.

    That bloody market doesn’t toss live fish nor do the fishmongers arbitrarily toss multiple fish throughout the day. They use one. One dead fish to attract a crowd and stimulate their potential buyers. And they use it until it’s unable to be tossed anymore. PETA has given so much into sensationalism, they (like any other organisation, notably media) have become a parody of themselves.

    I am all for the ethical treatment of animals but some animals are food, plain and simple and there’s nothing unethical about that.

  • wikith

    a) Have you fully investigated the sea kitten part of their website? Hi-larious! I particularly loved the melodramatic sea kitten stories, but the dress-up flash game (you can give the fish a litter box!) was also a ton of fun. Oh, PETA, you so crazy.

    b) Of all the questionable animal welfare stances of the AVMA, tossing dead fish is the best PETA can come up with to protest at this convention? Come on, at least go the foie gras route, people.

    I was impressed at the furor this stirred up on VIN. It just… seems like a non-issue to me. PETA is crazy. We know they’re crazy. The fish are dead. If you don’t approve, don’t go. It just puzzled me how long some people were willing to debate this.

  • http://www.pawcurious.com Dr. V

    Sara- You can’t beat the classic joke. :)

    Celeste and Wild Honey- A-MEN!!

    wikith- you know, I’ve been too busy playing their Cooking Mama parody to investigate the Sea Kitten portion of website. lol. I didn’t realize this was causing a stir at VIN. Guess I know what I’m going to spend my evening doing!

  • Megan

    I was at the conference, but I missed the mermaids. Thanks for posting, now I can feel whole. I can tell you as a vet myself, I don’t support pain. There’s actually a lot of debate out there in lower vertebrates as to what “pain” really is to the lower species, or how their brains process the concept of noxious stimuli. It was actually brought up and discussed in one of the lectures I went to. I also ate sea kittens. Multiple times, I won’t lie. And i loved every tasty morsel :)

  • http://www.pawcurious.com Dr. V

    You’re not on the pro-pain platform? ;)