PETA Flies ‘Shark Week’ Warning: Most Dangerous Predator in the Water Is You!

Our Species’ Taste for Seafood Beats Sharks’ Killing Record by a Nautical Mile—Even in “Shark Attack Capital of the World”

For Immediate Release:
June 24, 2016

Contact:
Sophia Charchuk 202-483-7382

This weekend, PETA will be flying a banner over beaches in advance of the return of Discovery Channel’s “Shark Week,” pointing out that fish, including sharks, have more to fear from humans than the other way around. While sharks kill an average of five humans a year globally, humans kill and consume more than 100 million sharks and billions of other sea animals each year. PETA’s banner, which reads, “Dangerous Predator in the Water: YOU! Go Vegan!” will fly over New Smyrna Beach—the shark attack capital of the world—to make this point.

When:             Saturday, June 25, 11 a.m.–1 p.m.

Sunday, June 26, 2–4 p.m.

Where:           Flying over New Smyrna Beach

“The idea of shark attacks raises TV ratings, but to put them in perspective, for every human killed by a shark, two million sharks and many millions of other fish are hacked apart or slowly suffocated,” says PETA President Ingrid Newkirk. “PETA encourages people to consider opting out of the slaughter by eating a nonviolent vegan diet.”

Humans consume more fish every year than all other animals combined, and the demand for shark-fin soup has resulted in overfishing and dwindling shark populations. Shark finning entails dragging sharks—who, studies show, have individual personalities—to the surface, hacking their fins off, and throwing them back into the ocean to die slowly from their injuries, stress, or suffocation.

Most fish are caught using huge, sometimes miles-long commercial fishing nets that stretch across ocean floors, trapping “trash catch” such as dolphins, turtles, seals, and other animals. When hauled up from the ocean, fish—who are intelligent and sensitive to pain—are often crushed to death, and their eyeballs bulge out of their heads from the pressure of sudden surfacing. Others are gutted alive.

PETA—whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to eat”—offers free vegan starter kits and encourages everyone to try healthy, humane vegan meals, such as Gardein’s delicious Golden Fishless Filets.

For more information, please visit PETA.org.