Found this via singlebarbed.com this a.m.
A story in the Wall Street Journal (http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703915204575103520836794314.html) talks about Switzerland’s animal rights laws and the attorney who defends them.
"Last month, Antoine Goetschel went to court here in defense of an unusual client: a 22-pound pike that had fought a fisherman for 10 minutes before surrendering."
“Mr. Goetschel is the official animal lawyer for the Swiss canton of Zurich, a sort of public defender who represents the interests of pets, farm animals and wildlife. He wound up with the pike as a client when animal-welfare groups filed a complaint alleging animal cruelty in the fish’s epic battle with an amateur angler.”
The case emerged after a local newspaper photo showed the fisherman proudly showing off the four-foot-long fish?a scene that, to Mr. Goetschel, was reminiscent of a safari hunter with his foot perched on the head of a dead lion. “It is this Hemingway thinking,” he says. “Why should this be legal when other animals have to be slaughtered in a humane way?”
I’m not trying to post flamebait here, but, while this is Switzerland, this is something that weighs heavily on my mind. I was a vegetarian for years (of course this was teenage rebellion which ended years before I picked fishing back up). I can tell you that while we’re unlikely to see animal rights activists firebombing fly shops anytime soon, this guy’s mindset, to some degree shows a conclusion at which many in the animal rights movement eventually arrive.
It’s difficult to explain to someone who’s never been on that side of the fence, but many of the people I was around back then eventually went from being vegetarian to being vegan (using no animal products whatsoever in any facet of life), and they would see fly fishing as being barbaric, despite what we know about it.
So, just be sure to stay aware of what’s going on out there in this realm. Fishing and hunting will probably be facing growing legal challenges here at home, and awareness will be the main tool we will have to make a difference.
As a side note, if I landed a 22-pound fish after only a 10-minute fight, I would consider that a speed record.:lol:
