Cruel Swimming Pool Fish-a-Thon Prompts PETA Protest

Protesters to Urge, ‘Keep Hookers Out of the Community Centre!’

For Immediate Release:
June 1, 2017

Contact:
Brooke Rossi 202-483-7382

What:    PETA supporters holding signs that read, “Keep Hookers Out of the Community Centre!” will protest the annual “Gone Fishin’” event at the Scadding Court Community Centre on Friday and for the next week. An animal advocate will also attend Councillor Joe Cressy’s meet-and-greet at the centre—taking place at the same time as the first protest—to ask for his help in ending the event.

When:    Friday, June 2, 2 p.m.

Where:    Scadding Court Community Centre, 707 Dundas St. W., Toronto

“Fishing isn’t fun for fish, whether it’s done in a swimming pool or the open ocean,” says PETA Executive Vice President Tracy Reiman. “PETA is urging the organizers of this cruel event to stop passing off a blood sport as family-friendly entertainment.”

PETA—whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to abuse in any way”—notes that when hauled up from the water by their sensitive mouths, fish experience the agony of being crushed to death and that their eyeballs bulge out of their heads from the pressure of sudden surfacing. Others are impaled or hooked and then gutted alive.

PETA previously donated $2,000 worth of toy fish, as well as Gardein Fishless Filets and vegan tartar sauce, to the organizers in efforts to persuade them to curb the use of real fish in the event.

For more information, please visit PETA.org.