Kittens of the Sea

I only wish that I had the comic genius to think of this first. Unfortunately, it appears that the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals are ernest. PETA has started a campaign to call fish, "sea kittens," because "Nobody would hurt a sea kitten." I could talk about how silly it is for PETA to personify (kittenify?) fish, but the site really speaks for itself. 

However, their campaign raises so many problems and possibilities, that I just have to mention a few that came to mind right away:

• One of my wife's friends wondered: what will they call catfish? Cat-sea-kittens?
• Should Wisconsin deal with the controversy around their law legalizing the hunting of feral cats by calling them "land-fish"?
• If the PETA "sea-kittens" campaign fails, should they start calling fish "sea-rats," because no one would want to eat a sea-rat? 
• What if the sea-rat campaign backfires, because governments start promoting the elimination of that aquatic vermin? 

Does PETA even realize the can of worms they've opened? 

Comments

[Ingrid Sherman]

I think Peta`s idea is great. People should stop killing fish. If you have ever seen a fish caught and watched it struggle to get back into the ocean, you would understand how cruel it is to catch them.

[Michael Muno]

There are lots of good reasons to limit how much sea food you eat. Many fisheries are on the verge of collapse from over-fishing. Even today the New York Times had an article on one:

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/20/science/earth/20reef.html?_r=1

Or check out this article about healthy coral reefs, in which it turns out that prey fish are scare and hiding, beset by hungry predators:

http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2008/07/kingman-reef/warne-text

When I buy fish, I try to use the Monterey Bay Aquarium's guide to fish that are not over-fished. They have a handy pocket guide.

http://www.montereybayaquarium.org/cr/seafoodwatch.aspx

That said, PETA's campaign is so silly, that it ends up trivializing a complex and important issue. I probably should have ignored it, because now if I try to mention the crisis the world's fisheries are facing, my friends will just say, "You want to save the SEA-KITTENS?!?" Alas, the site was so damn funny, that it was worth shooting my principles in the foot.

[Cindy]

PETA says: Fish > People

I say: People > Fish > Feces > PETA

[Flu-Bird]

PETA is the all time most stupid group of idiots around and theres always some hollywood wackos who listen to them and do stupid ads for them like ALEC BALDWIN and PAMELA ANDERSON