On October 11, 2012, a truck carrying 1,600 pounds of saltwater bass to the market was involved in a three-vehicle accident. The tanks that the fish were being transported in cracked open and some flopped out and died, while others died during the accident.
Now, the People For The Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) want a sign put up in the spot of the accident to remind people that “fish value their lives and feel pain,” Today’s Trucking reported.
According to the LA Times, PETA volunteer Diana Kourda wrote to the Irvine Public Works Department to request the sign be put up as a memorial to the fish, much like roadside crosses.
“Although such signs are traditionally reserved for human fatalities, I hope you’ll make an exception because of the enormous suffering involved in this case, in order to remind drivers that all animals – whether they’re humans, basset hounds or bass–value their lives and feel pain,” Kourda wrote. “The proposed sign would also remind tractor-trailer drivers of their responsibility to the thousands of animals who are hauled to their deaths every day.”
This is not the first time memorial the agency has campaigned for, but it is the first time the agency has campaigned for a fish memorial.
Spokesman with the city of Irvine Craig Reem said, “I do think it’s fair to say we have no plans to erect a memorial.”