Myth #45: “But I only eat fish, and they don’t feel pain.”
Actually, this rationalization rests on a complete falsehood; a myth of mere convenience as hollow as it is delusional. Research is now consistently showing that fish most certainly do feel pain when they are hooked, and that they most certainly do suffer immensely when pulled out of the water to suffocate to death on dry land … (“Oh, so that is what all that flopping around is about.”)
Not only that, fish actually exhibit many traits that show that they are creatures both highly sentient & highly sensitive – with many possessing enough self-awareness to recognize individuals of other species and interact with them consciously, with many nurturing their young in way that can only be called “love”, with many forming specific relationship-bonds with others that can only be called “friendship”; and with many having unique behavior patterns & preferences — what can only be appropriately termed “individual personalities”.
Yes, it is a good thing for all cows pigs & chickens that you have chosen to stop supporting their enslavement & chosen to stop funding their murder … and it is not a good thing that you do so at the expense of equally viable, equally sensitive & equally sentient beings — namely, the fish. Just because an animal looks completely different from you does NOT mean that its nerve-endings are any less sensitive … Just because an animal communicates differently than you does NOT mean that its fears are any less acute … And just because an animal responds more stoically to pain than you does NOT mean that its suffering is any less dramatic.
My Friends, rest assured that this information comes not from a place of judgment or arrogance, for I too once believed similar falsehoods about fish, and I too used my ignorance to justify eating fish for many years — up until the day I became aware of the needless suffering I was causing them — at which point I simply stopped doing do … Unlike the brilliant complexity that is the average fish, it really is that simple.
Current status of this Myth: Punctured
Justification it provides for eating animals: NONE
“The scientific literature is quite clear: Anatomically, physiologically and biologically, the pain system in fish is virtually the same as in birds and mammals.” ~ Donald Broom, Cambridge University professor
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