Have you hugged a shark today?

[sbp]

<A href="http://news.excite.com/news/r/010904/10/odd-rights-dc" target="_new" title="Animal Rights Group Pulls Be-Kind-To-Sharks Ad">Animal Rights Group Pulls Be-Kind-To-Sharks Ad</a>

MIAMI (Reuters) - An animal rights group is pulling an ad campaign urging sympathy for sharks following two fatal shark attacks along the U.S. Atlantic Coast this weekend.

The campaign was to feature a billboard emblazoned "Would You Give Your Right Arm to Know Why Sharks Attack, Could it be Revenge? Go Vegetarian, PETA."

PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) said in a statement on Tuesday it had planned to unveil the billboard next week in Pensacola, the Florida Gulf Coast city near where a shark ripped off the arm of an 8-year-old boy last month.

The boy, Jessie Arbogast, was mauled as he played in the sea in the first of a series of well-publicized shark attacks this summer. His arm was later retrieved from the shark's mouth and reattached but the boy, who nearly died, remains in a delicate condition.

This weekend 10-year-old David Peltier was killed by a shark at a beach close to PETA's headquarters in Norfolk, Virginia. A 27-year-old man was killed swimming off North Carolina's Outer Banks barrier islands and his companion was severely injured.

PETA had also planned to stage the campaign with airplane banners to be flown over Galveston, Texas, Miami, and the Massachusetts island of Martha's Vineyard.

"Our message is that humans kill billions of fish, including sharks, each year, in the most hideous ways, and sharks aren't really to blame for doing what comes naturally, because, unlike us, they don't have choices when it comes to what to eat," PETA spokesman Dan Shannon said.

"But right now people would just shoot the messenger without hearing the message."

A series of shark attacks in what has been dubbed "The Summer of the Shark" have alarmed the public and generated huge interest in the marine predator. But shark experts say the number of attacks is no greater than usual.

------
My Comment: Frigging PETA idiots.

[nexus_7]

um...Morons.

Greg

[d_b]

I think this will splain it all.


<img src="http://images.weeklyworldnews.com/images/9675.jpg">

[Phjorg]

the thing that gets me is peta is most likely on the mark here, but have their usual misguided way of getting the point across...

We've always had shark attacks, the number year to year is always low, hell, shark attacks are and have always been very rare and there are much greater risks posed to our beach-going populace than this! we just happened to have some underage children eaten up a few times this year and suddenly it's a national crisis...

[poop]

Aggreeing with PETA sucks, but in this case they are right.

We kill TONS and TONS of sharks. A few people get attacked by a shark, and the creatures are demonized. Sharks are predators. We invade on their territory. This stuff happens. It sucks that it happens, but it is a fact of life.

PETA's message is good, but they are horrible messangers.

[Speck102]

"Would You Give Your Right Arm to Know Why Sharks Attack, Could it be Revenge? Go Vegetarian, PETA."

That's plain wrong. I would like to see them lose their freakin' arm to a shark and see if they will still be laughing. It is f*cked up to joke about other people's misfortunes.

[MegaVectra]

I was watching something the other night that said in 1999 there were a total of 58 shark bites. In 2001 there have only been 41. I think this is a case of the media over hyping a situation to help ratings.

[EvilHorace]

I saw on one of those weird fear shows not too long ago where there's a place one can go and they put dead meat (some sort of large fish, whatever) in shark infested waters and people actually pay to go there and pet the great whites as a "thrill" while they're savagely devorering the meat. One of the crazier things I've seen.

[Kakarot]

You know, as much of a tradgedy as it is that these kids and other peeps have gotten attacked, I have no sympathy for them. These people knew there were an increased # of sharks in the area and that other people had been attacked. Yet they STILL let their kids play in the water. If you ask me they got exactly what they were asking for....

Like I said, its a horrible thing thats happened to these people and I wouldn't wish it on anyone. But at the same time its their own fault for not listening to the warnings and media hype and going in the water anyway. Dumb asses.