Speaking Up for Animals: An Anthology of Women's Voices by Lisa Kemmerer

Author:Lisa Kemmerer [Kemmerer, Lisa]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Social Science, Sociology, Political Science, General
ISBN: 9781317251644
Google: lArvCgAAQBAJ
Goodreads: 27890710
Publisher: Routledge
Published: 2011-10-30T00:00:00+00:00

REFERENCES

Boone, J. Allen, Kinship with All Life. San Francisco: HarperSanFrancisco, 1976.

Brown, Raymond E., S.S., Trans. The Gospel According to John. Garden City: Doubleday, 1970.

NRSV Harper Study Bible. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House, 1991.

Wesley, John. “The General Deliverance,” preached Nov. 30, 1771. From Sermons on Several Occasions, Public Domain, 1771. www.ccel.org/ccel/wesley/sermons/txt.

CHAPTER 8

The Fiercest Predators of the Sea

Heather Moore

Heather Moore is a freelance writer and a research specialist for the PETA Foundation, 501 Front St., Norfolk, VA 23510; www.PETA.org. She is a Baltimore native, currently living in Sarasota, Florida, who has been a vegan for almost twenty years. Her work has appeared in many publications, including the Philadelphia Inquirer, Houston Chronicle, Las Vegas Review Journal, IMPACT Press, Colorado Dog, Chicago Dog, New Mobility, Earth First Journal, and The Encyclopedia of Human-Animal Relationships.

Sharks are commonly thought to be the most ferocious predators of the sea—bloodthirsty monsters who attack and eat everything in the water, including humans. Of the more than 400 species of sharks, only 11 have been known to attack us, but when you think about all the sea animals that humans eat each year, it would seem that people are the fiercest predators of the sea. We’re causing sea life to suffer immensely, and we’re decimating fish populations.

Every year in the United States alone, approximately 21.7 billion sea animals are killed as a result of commercial, recreational, and aquacultural fishing. About 17.4 billion of these animals, including fish, shrimp, lobsters, and crabs, are eventually eaten by humans. Even octopuses—live ones, no less—wind up on people’s plates. Some people line up at all-you-caneat “seafood” buffets—making an “extreme sport” of eating fish, lobsters, octopuses, and other sea animals. These animals are not swimming vegetables—they’re sentient, intelligent beings, who have more in common with us than many people realize.

When I was a child, one of my best friends was a goldfish named Squirmy. I loved that fish; he was full of character, and though I doubt that he was happy living in a tank, he certainly entertained me with his antics. When he died, I somehow sensed that there was a connection between my beloved goldfish and the fish sticks in the freezer. Something clicked in my young mind, and for months after Squirmy’s death I refused to eat fish. Being a kid, my resolve didn’t last, and I occasionally ordered fish sandwiches or shrimp or scallops in my teen years, when my family went out to eat.

But now, having worked in the animal rights movement for fourteen years, I know much more about fish and other sea animals, and I have too much appreciation—and empathy—for sea life to eat these fascinating individuals. Tuna, salmon, shrimp, scallops, crabs, lobsters, and other sea animals don’t belong on our plates any more than do goldfish. Each of these beings is a fascinating creature who has feelings and many of them construct civilizations, as we do.

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