What would you do if you saw a dog suffocating in a car? What if you saw a suffocating fish? Sheila Rybak explains what she did:

This message is for all people who love fishing and think it to be a great pastime. Let me ask you: Have you ever held your head under water until you were out of oxygen or thought you were drowning?

When you remove a fish from water it is no different – they are deprived of oxygen and are therefore suffocating. With some, their swim bladder ruptures, their throat is torn out, etc.

Another instance was when I was living in Texas. Some friends of my husband invited us to go fishing. I didn’t realize the cruelty of it until he pulled a lovely fish from the river and threw her onto the bank. She was thrashing around and I could not stand it. I picked her up and put her back into the river. He was furious with me but, for me, it was my compassion that told me to do it. She was dying and I knew she needed my help. The man never forgave me.

I live on a lake and I witness this often. One day a young man fishing in the lake was so proud of the beautiful fish he had just pulled from the water and thrown on the grass. He seemed to be enjoying her writhing for oxygen. He told me that was the only kind of fish his wife liked to eat. Without a second thought, I picked the fish up and threw her back into the lake and said to him, “She won’t be enjoying this one.”

Those were the moments when I realized I was put on this earth to protect animals, and to fight against all forms of animal cruelty. I have never looked back.

See also Sheila’s inspiring act when she was falsely arrested at a fur demo:
https://www.peta.org/blog/fur-protester-delivers-big-dose-inspiration/