PETA Wants Street Sign Memorializing “Enormous Suffering” of Dead Fish
Just when you thought you’ve heard or seen it all, PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) shows up to astonish. In the latest screwball event, PETA is trying to get the City of Irvine, California, to put up a sign memorializing the deaths of several hundred fish from a traffic collision. Such signs are normally reserved only for human fatalities of accidents.
The Orange County Register reported that:
a truck carrying 1,600 pounds of live fish and several tanks of pure oxygen crashed with two other vehicles. The oxygen was used to keep the saltwater bass alive as the fish were being taken to market.
In the letter, Dina Kourda, on behalf of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, asks the city’s street-maintenance superintendent to place the sign at the site of the crash on Walnut and Yale avenues.
The sign would read, “In memory of hundreds of fish who suffered and died at this spot,” to remind tractor-trailer drivers of their responsibility to the animals who are “hauled to their deaths every day,” according to the letter, provided by PETA.
“Although such signs are traditionally reserved for human fatalities, I hope you’ll make an exception because of the enormous suffering involved in this case,” the letter read.
“Research tells us that fish use tools, tell time, sing, and have impressive long-term memories and complex social structures, yet fish used for food are routinely crushed, impaled, cut open, and gutted, all while still conscious,” the letter continued.
