Sea Kittens Attack Two in Australia

Last October PETA began a campaign to re-brand fish as "sea kittens," with the claim that fish are "just as intelligent (not to mention adorable) as dogs and cats." This silly effort already is the victim of a famous prank (see image at left), but it warrants careful consideration. A couple of questions come immediately to mind.

First, on two occasions within the past several days, swimmers have been victims of shark attacks in southern Australian waters. An ABC news article, Call for shark warning signs after attacks, perhaps missed the opportunity to better inform swimmers of the risks they face and, at the same time, help properly promote the PETA campaign. The potential danger of these attacks arguably could have been more effectively broadcast by calling instead for sea kitten warning signs. This may be warranted given the spate of recent attacks (see Time magazine article, Sea Kittens Rampage in Australia). Every one knows that kittens are dangerous, but sharks? They're just cute and cuddly.

Second, will Chicken of the Sea tuna have to be renamed?

Will he have to call it Kitten of the Sea? If so, will we have to revise the famous Jessica Simpson quote, "Is this kitten, what I have, or is this fish? I know it’s tuna, but it says ‘Kitten of the Sea'"?


On the lighter side, recipes for "stir fried sea kitten" and "the best beer battered sea kitten" are available at Sea Kittens ARE TASTY.

My understanding of the spoofed web site, shown above, is that a person or persons unknown purchased a domain with sea kittens in the name, screen captured the PETA page, and then added the advertisement for Omaha Steaks. Nice.

A full-size view of the spoofed page can be seen by going to Sea Kittens ARE TASTY and clicking on the image of the spoofed page.