Letter to PETA regarding Fish-O-Rama

[SteveJ]

Hope this link works.
http://www.thereeftank.com/ubb/Forum1/HTML/000644.html

[cjdevito]

Dude, PETA advocates taking aquarium fish to the nearest body of water and setting them free .... irregardless of the inherent stupidity of releasing exotics into non-native locales, or of introducing new pathogens to the region. Anyone who has read my posts know how much in favour of hobby related regulation I am, but PETA I wouldn't touch with a 10' pole.

[JohnL]

Hi Steve,

How did things work out with your monster reef tank?

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Peace - John

[jimhobbs]

I think you did the right thing with the letter...The only problem, is that PITA will probably not be interested in this case and try to brush you off on the local humane society or some other group...See, they're only interested in the things that will get them on the news, and bring in more money...REAL problems arn't part of their political agenda... :) It will be interesting to watch how they handle this situation....Best regards...jim

Best regards...jim

ps...All the above is only my opinion

[This message has been edited by jimhobbs (edited 06-29-2000).]

[Dan]

CJ is correct. PETA will use the Fish-O-Rama business to portray all aquarium keepers, especially marine keepers, to be a bunch of ignorant slobs who are in need of extensive restrictions on their freedoms. I don't think asking the fox how best to protect the chicken coop is a good idea. Sorry about the mini-flame, but this could just add fuel to the fire of intolerance that PETA has for aquarium keepers (and pet keepers in general). I'm real protective about my freedoms. Aquarium keepers can deal with Fish-O-Rama by freely choosing not to do business with them. Freedom will deal with this perversion. I haven't seen one post in favor of these mixed aquariums.

Dan

[Mermaid]

I responded to the first thread about this email with a positive comment - about letting someone as scary as PETA scare the nutcases at Fish-o-rama. I was thinking, good, sic one nut on another, and maybe something will get done. We did not seem to scare them much.

After reading many posts by other board members about this, I have seen facts stated about PETA that I never knew. I do not research them, and have not really looked into their organization since in college when I read their book, which I enjoyed. It was informative, expalained how many things are done to animals in a horrific manner, which the people doing them would never admit to the public, and I was grateful for the eyeopening information I learned. Yes, I agree their methods are almost as horrific as the crimes they are fighting, but I was under the impression that it was a small radical faction who earned the bad press. I do not claim to be an expert on PETA policy or history, but only knew them as passionate and someone who actually does something about what they found offensive.

So, what would be the best recourse to shut down places like Fish-o-rama? I hate the thought of even one fish being tortured, and forced to endure a slow, painful death. As long as this company is running, many ignorant (not meaning stupid, as much as uninformed) people will buy these setups. It must sell, for them to have spent the money on the website and patent. There are many, many gullible and foolish people with money in the world, on top of the intelligent ones who just do not care about the lives of animals. I just wonder what can be done to protect the animals? There cannot be one perfect answer, since everyone has different limits of what they deem appropriate treatment, or inappropriate.

Today I am sad, I am very frustrated, since a client I refused to sell a large expensive fish to just ignored my suggestion to get his tank parameters in control (add live rock and sand, get a protein skimmer, and new lights, as well as some books before the fish). He lied to me about waiting for it and got it from an unethical LFS who sold him an Angel larger than my hand with fingers splayed, for his 72 gallon tank with no skimmer, one light bulb (I know the fish does not care, but the LR does) and hardly any LR or LS. Plus, instead of calling the LFS he paid for the fish, he called me the night he got it, demanding a cure for its showing signs of Ich. I am so sick of these unscupulous LFS selling incompetent people fish who are doomed to horrible deaths. I know I am in a 'mood' about this now, but someone please make some suggestions about real solutions to preventing such horrors as I just described, which I see at least weekly, and certainly more than cases of compassion like we frequently see on these boards. Thank goodness for the people on the boards, but how can we protect the majority of the fish out there from those who are not like the people on the boards, (which is by far the majority of fish owners)?

Sorry for the rant, I am just a little depressed today. (this was started on my recent trip to chicago last weekend, where, in the few LFS we stopped in, I was able to see almost every fish on that 'list of fish to avoid' posted on another thread - and then in one local store today, i saw several more! Talking to the store people did NO good, they told me they sold and they did not hear complaints about the fish dying, so ???) Stop the insanity!!!

[SteveJ]

JohnL,
Actually it was going to be a FOWLR. I could never afford the corals to put in the thing.
It is on hold right now. Has the water, sand, and some rock in it. There is a debate at the house regarding funds for keeping SW. The wife seems to think I should go back to FW. Cheaper. Eventually, I hope to get it actually stocked.

[SteveJ]

Actually it was going to be a FOWLR. I could never afford to stock it with corals. Unfortunately it is on hold. The wife wants me to go back to FW since it is cheaper. We are still debates the funds involved in SW. Hopefully it will be stocked soon.

[JohnL]

So you got it back from the LFS. That's great. Good luck with it.

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Peace - John

[O'Man]

People
Eat
Tasty
Animals

They are about gaining clout, and proof that some people just have too much free time.

[Afishianado]

Anyone seen the Dennis Leary special and hear his take on PETA....I was LMAO...

Chris