Wedge
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http://www.sky.com/skynews/article/0,,31500-12302001,00.html
After years of believing fish have no sense of pain, scientists now say they have discovered "trout trauma".
The breakthrough study on rainbow trout claims to have uncovered evidence that fish have feelings, including stress and pain.
The experiments involved increasing temperatures and injecting bee venom into trout lips, which caused some fish to rock back and forth.
Dr Lynne Sneddon, study leader and member of the Animal Welfare Research Consortium, said: "If we touch a hot iron we have a reflex to pull away. This is down to things called nociceptors. For the first time we have discovered fish have them too.
"These do not appear to be reflex responses. This fulfils the full criteria for animal pain."
Animal rights activists have long called for Britain's 3.8 million anglers to stop their "cruel" sport.
The scientists' findings have been welcomed by animal rights organisation PETA, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, but they said it was unfortunate that fish had to suffer to show something that should have been obvious.
Dawn Carr, director of PETA (Europe), said: "Marine biologists and common sense tell us that if you trick a small animal into impaling his or herself in the mouth, that animal is suffering.
"It is shocking that people will still go fishing for fun. We argue that for every cruel thing people do, there is a compasionate alternative."
Fish biologist and scientific advisor to the National Angling Alliance, Dr Bruno Broughton, said: "I doubt that it will come as much of a shock to anglers to learn that fish have an elaborate system of sensory cells around their mouths.
"Nor is it a surprise that, when their lips are injected with poisons, fish respond and behave abnormally.
"However, it is an entirely different matter to draw conclusions about the ability of fish to feel pain - a psychological experience for which they literally do not have the brains."
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i dont know...
After years of believing fish have no sense of pain, scientists now say they have discovered "trout trauma".
The breakthrough study on rainbow trout claims to have uncovered evidence that fish have feelings, including stress and pain.
The experiments involved increasing temperatures and injecting bee venom into trout lips, which caused some fish to rock back and forth.
Dr Lynne Sneddon, study leader and member of the Animal Welfare Research Consortium, said: "If we touch a hot iron we have a reflex to pull away. This is down to things called nociceptors. For the first time we have discovered fish have them too.
"These do not appear to be reflex responses. This fulfils the full criteria for animal pain."
Animal rights activists have long called for Britain's 3.8 million anglers to stop their "cruel" sport.
The scientists' findings have been welcomed by animal rights organisation PETA, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, but they said it was unfortunate that fish had to suffer to show something that should have been obvious.
Dawn Carr, director of PETA (Europe), said: "Marine biologists and common sense tell us that if you trick a small animal into impaling his or herself in the mouth, that animal is suffering.
"It is shocking that people will still go fishing for fun. We argue that for every cruel thing people do, there is a compasionate alternative."
Fish biologist and scientific advisor to the National Angling Alliance, Dr Bruno Broughton, said: "I doubt that it will come as much of a shock to anglers to learn that fish have an elaborate system of sensory cells around their mouths.
"Nor is it a surprise that, when their lips are injected with poisons, fish respond and behave abnormally.
"However, it is an entirely different matter to draw conclusions about the ability of fish to feel pain - a psychological experience for which they literally do not have the brains."
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i dont know...
