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Angling Imagine
reaching for an apple on a tree and having your hand suddenly
impaled by a metal hook that drags you—the whole weight
of your body pulling on that one hand—out of the air
and into an atmosphere in which you cannot breathe. This is
what fish experience when they are hooked for “sport.”
Many people grow up fishing without ever considering the terror
and suffering that fish endure when they’re impaled
by a hook and pulled out of the water. Recreational anglers
rarely stop to contemplate that fish
are complex and intelligent individuals. In fact, if anglers
treated cats, dogs, cows, or pigs the way they treat fish,
they would be thrown in prison on charges of cruelty to animals.
Even when anglers put fish back in the water after torturing them, many of the fish die from their stress and injuries. A 2006 study conducted during and after a Wisconsin fishing tournament found that hundreds of fish who were caught and released had died within a few days.
Why not let fish enjoy the beautiful day, too, by leaving your fishing gear at home? Click here for more ways to help fish. 1 Associated Press, “Hundreds of Wis. Bass Found Dead After Meet,” 24 Jul. 2006. |
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