ANTI-VIOLENCE campaigners have slammed an animal rights advertisement that equates eating fish with the suffering of sexual assault and domestic abuse victims.

ANTI-VIOLENCE campaigners have slammed an animal rights advertisement that equates eating fish with the suffering of sexual assault and domestic abuse victims. The video, made by People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, shows a screaming girl watching a man beat her mother, an attacker grabbing an elderly woman's blouse, and a bloodied schoolboy being kicked to the ground. It then shows a fish on a chopping board, opening its mouth, with the words: ''Some screams can't be heard.'' The has been viewed almost 52,000 times on YouTube. PETA is also urging supporters to tweet celebrity chefs such as Gordon Ramsay and Mario Batali, calling on them to ''put down the knife''.

Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/world/controversial-ad-says-eating-a-fish-is-like-bashing-a-granny-20120609-2038a.html#ixzz2AvTrUrUN Previously, the group has defended its attempts to ''shake people up'' as a means of sparking debate. Virginia Geddes, executive officer of the Victorian Domestic Violence Resource Centre, said she was ''horrified'' by the ad. ''I'm appalled that the lives of victims of violence are being compared to the life of a fish,'' she said. ''When PETA talks about 'shaking people up', have they thought about what being shaken up actually feels like for the women and children being abused?'' Karen Willis, executive officer of the New South Wales Rape Crisis Centre, said: ''To throw this in somebody's face without any warning is quite unethical. It re-traumatises them, and no one has the right to do that.'' Ms Willis said PETA ''has its heart in the right place'', but she feels the violent footage renders the ad ineffective. ''When I think of that ad, all I'll remember is the girl screaming and the woman being robbed, not the fish on the chopping block,'' she said. Media commentator Professor Catharine Lumby said she endorsed PETA's motives but not its method. ''Animal rights is very important,'' she said. ''But I am concerned about the use of violence against women and children being used as bait for political campaigns.'' Claire Fryer, of PETA, defended the campaign as ''an effort to instil empathy for animals, specifically fish, who are widely misunderstood''. ''Billions of fish are dragged suffocating from the oceans or farmed in filthy, severely crowded fish farms, treated in ways that would warrant cruelty-to-animals charges if the victims were dogs or cats.'' Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/world/controversial-ad-says-eating-a-fish-is-like-bashing-a-granny-20120609-2038a.html#ixzz2AvTeV700 The Sydney Morning Herald

Animal Rights Group (PETA) Attacks Pokemon For Promoting Animal Abuse

Animal rights group PETA has condemned the Pokémon media franchise and video game series, saying it “paints a rosy picture of what amounts to thinly veiled animal abuse.” The Pokémon series tells the stories of young “trainers” who befriend wild critters called Pokémon, help them grow stronger, and coach them through a series of non-fatal sparring matches against other trainers. In a statement released on October 8, the day after Nintendo released Pokemon Black 2 and White 2, the latest games in the franchise, PETA blathered:

“ Much like animals in the real world, Pokémon are treated as unfeeling objects and used for such things as human entertainment and as subjects in experiments. The way that Pokémon are stuffed into pokéballs is similar to how circuses chain elephants inside railroad cars and let them out only to perform confusing and often painful tricks that were taught using sharp steel-tipped bullhooks and electric shock prods …if PETA existed in Unova, our motto would be: Pokémon are not ours to use or abuse. They exist for their own reasons. We believe that this is the message that should be sent to children. Aside from the fact that this is clearly a lame attempt to attract publicity on the back of a major video game release (which is why I’m not linking to their site, and you shouldn’t look for it, either) PETA seems to have missed the single biggest theme of the Pokémon series: That Pokémon should be treated humanely and live as our equals. The games are loaded with an endless stream of characters who go on and on about true friendship between man and Pokémon. It’s so saccharine and so completely the opposite of what PETA suggests that it boggles the mind. As part of the campaign, PETA also developed and released a flash-based parody game which it calls “Pokémon Black and Blue.” It is awful. Last November, PETA attacked video game icon Mario for wearing “fur” –the Tanooki Suit, a frequent power-up in Mario games that grants the ability to fly. PETA did not disclose in its statement how many actual, living, breathing animals died waiting for rescue while the organization spent its time and money campaigning against fiction. Forbes