Quoting PETA to generate controversy is as tired as Britney Spears minus undergarments, a quick blip of interest followed by an unpleasant aftertaste, knowing you’ve been played.

Bad taste was what I was left with after reading another nebulous, fluffy article about “Catch and Release” in the Sacramento Bee; grab a couple facts, quote the lunatic fringe, then sign off with a question mark.

I figured to complete the article, purely in the interests of Science.

Biologists are certain that releasing fish helps sustain populations that would falter if those fish were eaten. But they know much less about how repeated releases may affect breeding, behavior and more.

Humans that are released repeatedly show little ill effects; initial relief, then despair as assets are carved up, within weeks the male shows the same self destructive behavior as before the marriage, implying males learned little or nothing from the experience.

It is a comparison that does not sit well with People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals.

“Every parent who fishes is telling their kids that it’s fun to torment and abuse animals,” said Lindsay Rajt, manager of the group’s factory farming and vegan campaigns.

“There are a variety of ways to enjoy the outdoors that don’t involve hooking a live animal by the mouth and dragging them into an environment where they can’t breathe,” she said.

Perhaps the above would be a bit more revealing if we altered a couple of words.

Every parent who abuses their spouse is telling their kids that it’s fun to torment and abuse animals. There are a variety of ways to enjoy others that don’t involve hooking a live animal by the mouth and dragging them into an environment where they can’t breathe,” she said.

Most of the husbands I spoke with would consider “holding her purse at Macy’s” or visiting the In-Laws to be just such an environment. Mankind seems to have bounced back from the experience, so can it be as insufferable as the PETA radicals make out?

“Even the world’s most renowned expert in pain can’t tell you if a fish feels pain,” said Steve Jinks, a professor of anesthesiology and pain medicine at UC Davis Medical School.

The medical community is split on whether “pain” is only felt by sentient critters, requiring higher brain development than fish exhibit. I have little doubt that fish feel pain, to say otherwise is to dabble in human arrogance.

On the human front pain is essential to our survival, it teaches us what is safe and what’s unsafe, with animals it can be no different.

“We are putting selective pressure on every bass fishery around and selecting for the least aggressive fish,” he said. “It probably means they’re not as good defenders of their babies … which can’t be good for the population.”

I disagree completely. If a fish is caught and associates a Royal Trude with flesh damage, it’s likely that it won’t eat another one. Angling is the art of presenting the Royal Trude in a manner that disguises it as something else, hence the fish can be caught more than once.

For the PETA loyalists,I enjoy both fishing and catching, and I do so with the knowledge that I am causing fish pain. I attempt to minimize suffering by releasing fish with as little stress as possible, even when it pains me to do so.

I am a brute, I share the top of the food chain with other brutes.

Rather than trying to get me to stop fishing, why don’t you prove that a radish has no feelings, as long as there’s reasonable doubt, you’re treading on thin ice.

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