hi mister rex i say fish do not feel pain is not because i think
they do not. and do not call me dude, it's very rude. call me
mister pig.
these are the reports:
http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2003/02/10/1044725683181.html
Fish lack the brains to feel pain, says the latest school of
thought
By Rajeev Syal in London
February 10 2003
Anglers rest easy. Fish cannot feel pain, the largest study into
piscine neurology has concluded.
An academic study comparing the nervous systems and responses of
fish and mammals has found that fishes' brains are not sufficiently
developed to allow them to sense pain or fear.
The study is the work of James D Rose, a professor of zoology and
physiology at the University of Wyoming, who has been working on
questions of neurology for almost 30 years. He has examined data on
the responses of animals to pain and stimulus from scores of
studies collected over the past 15 years.
His report, published in the American journal Reviews of Fisheries
Science, has concluded that awareness of pain depends on functions
of specific regions of the cerebral cortex which fish do not
possess.
Professor Rose, 60, said that previous studies which had indicated
that fish can feel pain had confused nociception - responding to a
threatening stimulus - with feeling pain.
"Pain is predicated on awareness," he said. "The key issue is the
distinction between nociception and pain. A person who is
anaesthetised in an operating theatre will still respond physically
to an external stimulus, but he or she will not feel pain. Anyone
who has seen a chicken with its head cut off will know that, while
its body can respond to stimuli, it cannot be feeling pain."
Professor Rose said he was enormously concerned with the welfare of
fish, but that campaigners should concentrate on ensuring that they
were able to enjoy clean and well-managed rivers and seas.
Despite the findings of Professor Rose's study, a spokesman for
People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, which has invested
heavily in an anti-angling campaign, said: "We believe that fishing
is barbaric. Of course animals can feel pain. They have
sensitivity, if only to avoid predators."
The Telegraph, London
http://uk.outdoorsports.yahoo.com/030210/233/dsvmh.html
Report Says Fish Do Not Feel Pain
By Graham Marsden
The biggest ever study into fish neurology has found that the brain
of a fish is not developed enough to feel pain or feel fear.
James D Rose, 60, a professor of zoology and physiology at the
University Of Wyoming, USA, has published the report in the
American academic journal Reviews In Fisheries Science and has
compared the nervous systems and responses of fish and mammals and
found that pain is an emotional or psychological response
controlled by a part of the brain that is not present in
fish.
He said that previous studies that claimed that fish do feel pain
were confusing the emotion with the fishs ability to detect when
it had an injury.
Professor Rose stated: A person who is anaesthetised in an
operating theatre will still respond physically to an external
stimulus but will not feel pain.
There are people who arent comfortable with my findings but even
those who dont accept them have yet to raise any scientific
challenge.
FISHINGmagic says:
This is a severe blow to PETA and other animal rights organisations
who have campaigned for years on the grounds that fishing is just
another blood sport where the fish feel as much pain as any other
animal.
For the same number of years anglers have strenuously denied this,
citing thousands of actual incidents that prove, to anyone with a
modicum of common sense, that fish do not feel pain. For instance,
a creature than can pull back against a hook through its lip, or
carry on feeding when mortally wounded following an attack from a
predator, cannot possibly feel pain.
The report is certain to provoke PETA and the like into yet another
wild scheme similar to the hanging dog advert in order to claw back
a little credibility.
The truth, however, will always prevail.
