CHARM

In Mary’s words,  “I became annoyed by people giving the number of animals exploited for food without even including fishes despite their constituting the greatest number of them by far.” 

In 2023, to commemorate the 40th Anniversary of FARM’s World Day for Farmed Animals (WDFA) which occurs each year on October 2, we are joining Mary in shining a spotlight on the wondrous lives of Aquatic Animals. As part of FARM’s mission, it is our hope that more people will consider the sentient lives of Fishes and better understand their place in the world we share with them.

Mary took time out of her busy schedule to chat with us and share her uplifting story.

Our upbringing can have a significant impact on the adults we become and how we perceive the world around us, including the plight of animals. Do you believe your childhood experiences led you to be an advocate for non-human animals?

I had a difficult childhood. My father had rage issues, and we lived in a state of fear of him. My mother was wonderful, though. I believe I largely developed my sense of compassion for nonhuman animals from her. I have 3 older brothers and 2 younger sisters, and though we are very close, unfortunately, none of them are vegan or even vegetarian. They are supportive of my efforts in other ways, though.

At what age did you become vegetarian/vegan?

I’ve been enthralled by animals all of my life. I think it was because of the oppressive state I was raised in that I developed such empathy with them. I hate unfairness, injustice, and cruelty, and nonhuman animals are the biggest victims of it. If I wasn’t devoting my life to helping them I would devote it to helping abused children and women. So, I always wanted to help animals, and by the time I was a teen (if not earlier), I was troubled about eating them. After reading Diet for a Small Planet (and a biography of Mahatma Gandhi), I became vegetarian (around the age of 15).

After reading Animal Liberation, about 10 years later, I became vegan in 1986. Here is a chapter I have in Vegan Voices that discusses this.

How was vegetarianism/veganism introduced to you?

In the mid-1980s, I became aware of the animal rights movement. It was what I’d been dreaming of! I joined the local animal rights group: Lehigh Valley Animal Rights Coalition, and in 1986 I moved to the D.C. area to do animal rights activism full-time. There was a sizable community of a.r. advocates here, which was very helpful.  

Describe some of the struggles, if any, you’ve encountered along your vegan journey.

Not being able to effectively articulate the arguments for animal rights was very frustrating but I read extensively about them, seeking out any valid arguments against them (which I have yet to find), and increasingly developed my ability to advocate for animals.

For new activists, I would suggest AAM. Of course there is always the power of the internet. Communicate with other activists who have more experience than you. Move the Message by Josephine Bellaccomo. I would also suggest considering Vegan Toastmasters, the many videos by Earthling Ed and of course Joey Carbstrong.

What is the most significant benchmark experience you have had that has helped to shape your life?

Moving here and engrossing myself in animal rights advocacy has been most significant. Also, deciding to not have children enabled me to be free to devote myself to animal rights advocacy.

Let’s give our readers something you have never opened up about. What can you share with us here that has never been revealed before that you feel will inspire others? This can be a joyous or sad event.

By nature, I’ve been a very shy, introverted person. I’ve tried to avoid confrontation, and public speaking has been a real challenge. My passion for animal rights has compelled me to largely overcome it.

What other activists inspire you or have inspired you?

I’m inspired by so many activists, far too many to name. A few who come to mind are:

Karen Davis of United Poultry Concerns has been a mentor of sorts to me. I’ve been very fortunate to have a close relationship with her, and her staunch, passionate, intelligent advocacy is a great inspiration.

I have particular admiration for early activists, like Ingrid Newkirk and Alex Hershaft (and Karen!), who promoted animal rights when the movement was viewed as a joke by the public. People who helped develop the arguments and strategies to advance animal rights. Also, activists, like Walt Rave, risked and endured public ridicule to boldly advocate for animals. Activists who have risked arrest to act for animals, and the unsung activists who toil away for animals solely because they are compelled by their concern and compassion to do so, especially those ‘on the front lines’: in rural areas or other places where people tend to be very hostile towards the concept of animal rights.

What is an average day for you?

I spend most of the day behind the computer: reading/researching, writing, responding to comments and inquiries, and posting information.

When did you launch Fish Feel?

A decade ago in 2013.

What is the inspiring story behind the launch?

I’d been involved in animal rights advocacy for about 30 years. I’ve always wanted to help the most animals in the most effective ways I can. Henry Spira had pointed out that farmed animals were by far the greatest number of abused animals, so I’d been focusing on them. Though I was guilty of it, too, fish suffering was largely ignored, even by the animal protection community, despite their being subjected to some of the worst abuses. Even the animal rights community was being so speciesist toward fishes! 

I was heavily inspired by Do Fish Feel Pain? published in 2010 by the late Victoria Braithwaite and later on in 2016 the NY Times best-selling book by Jonathan Balcombe What A Fish Knows was released…fishes were having their moment and coming into the spotlight. 

At the same time, technologies were being developed to study fishes in their natural habitat. We learned fishes could learn from each other, remember each other, and identify each other as well as human faces. We also learned they do care for their young in many ways including building nests. They have their own mating rituals, and courting rituals, and do interact with other species. We began to recognize their intelligence and social skills. 

Before this people didn’t think they were capable of any of this. So, we decided to start Fish Feel.

Were there any challenges?

There are so many fish issues (e.g., fishing, fish farming, experimentation, aquaria, etc.), and so many people don’t even think that fishes can feel! It’s not unlike where chickens were 30 years ago, with even some prominent advocates saying it would be too hard to get the public to care about them. It’s our mission as activists to get people to care about animals: all animals.

When Fish Feel started, I knew relatively little about fishes, so it’s been a steep learning curve. The more I learn about them the more appreciative I am of them. They are truly amazing, admirable beings who continually inspire me. 

How did you overcome the challenges?

I’m still working on it! While things have improved for fishes in that people are increasingly learning the truth about them, and advocacy is increasing for them, we really are still at ground zero in regard to the public’s perception of fishes. For example, society is still praising and rewarding people for torturing/killing fishes for ‘fun,’ fishes are excluded from most animal protection laws, and many people think vegetarians eat fish. Many people don’t even consider fish to be animals!

Fortunately, many people and organizations have been very receptive to and supportive of Fish Feel.

Are there any other organizations or individuals who are focused on educating the public about fishes?

One of the objectives of Fish Feel is to get other animal protection organizations to increase/initiate their advocacy for fish. PETA is an organization that has already been significantly advocating for them, and some others have begun to do so. Much of the latter is ‘welfare’ oriented, though, rather than ‘rights’ oriented.

As one of the most underestimated and misunderstood animals in the world, how do fishes fit into animal rights and industrial farming, when compared to cows, pigs, and others that receive much more attention?

An astronomical number of wild-caught fishes are used as feed for farmed animals (including farmed fishes)*, and fishes comprise a far larger number of farmed animals than farmed mammals and birds combined.**

Farmed fishes tend to be subjected to much longer periods of cruel exploitation than other farmed animals, and fishes have virtually no legal protection, being excluded from even the skimpy laws that do cover some farmed animals (e.g., the Humane Slaughter Act). Two great articles that exemplify this information is The Fish We Kill to Feed the Fish We Eat, How Many Animals Does a Vegetarian Save, and Animals We Use and Abuse for Food We Do Not Eat.

The popularity and public acceptance of so-called recreational fishing, including among children, causes people to have less respect for animals in general and makes them more accepting of cruel exploitation of them.