
Charles Wickersham, a 21-year-old guy, was bitten by a shark while fishing with his friends in the San Francisco Bay Area near Anna Maria Island. Sharks. Bite. Near death. Beyond scary. Anyone with a modicum of a soul would hope that Wickersham gets better (he’s still in intensive care right now) and lives a happy life. Those more equipped might help with the hospital bills or raise awareness on how to prevent such animal accidents from happening. A human survived a traumatic shark attack, what a story that is, amiright? That’s normal behaviour for normal people with normal emotions.
PETA is not normal. No. They’re insane.
In response to Wickersham’s accident, those heartless pricks are launching an insensitive ad campaign against all types of fishing. They’re using a man, who almost died, as their soapbox. Their rallying call. Might as well accuse him of being Michael Vick, why don’t you. Their photo, which will be plastered across benches and billboards in the Bay Area, shows a shark chewing on a bloody human “drumstick” (leg) with the tagline: “Payback is Hell. Go Vegan.”
PETA’s campaign director Ashley Byrne said:
“We are very glad that Mr. Wickersham is going to be ok, but we do hope that this painful and frightening experience makes him think about the pain and fear that he’s causing to fish — and other fisherman are causing to fish.”
Yes. Because everyone who fishes deserves to be bitten by a shark. And because if Ms Byrne was enjoying the ocean one day, a shark would avoid her because it would know that she thinks about the pain and fear she causes to fish.
I understand that PETA’s shock and awe campaigns are meant to get people on both sides riled up. They want to spark discussion and raise awareness. And hey, I guess it’s working, I am writing about it aren’t I? But when we’re talking about using a human life as a sacrifice to jumpstart a campaign that belittles his accident? That’s the line.
Look, there needs to be an organisation that cares about animals. At the top of the food chain with a heart for compassion and the ability to affect, us humans should bear their responsibility — they can’t speak for themselves, we need to protect nature. Yes and yes. I couldn’t be happier to support such a thing!
PETA, next time, please remember where you came from. Or I’ll have to start PAETPETA, People Against the Ethical Treatment of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals.



















warcroft
Thursday, September 29, 2011 at 10:59 AMDo Peta think Vegans dont get attacked by sharks?
Joel
Thursday, September 29, 2011 at 11:02 AMNo, vegans don’t bleed blood, they bleed vegetable oil. Sharks hate vegetable oil.
Luke
Thursday, September 29, 2011 at 11:06 AMThey love vegetable oil. They hate cinnamon.
warcroft
Thursday, September 29, 2011 at 11:03 AMAnd on that. . . if a Vegab does get eaten by a shark, what then? Its not payback by the shark. What will Peta think then?
warcroft
Thursday, September 29, 2011 at 11:04 AMVegab, lol.
The ‘b’ is next to ‘n’.
glennc
Thursday, September 29, 2011 at 12:14 PMshort for vegable
Joel
Thursday, September 29, 2011 at 11:00 AMLet’s eat them? I’ll show them vegan.
The most epic Epic Meal Time?
Sam O
Thursday, September 29, 2011 at 11:09 AMYou are what you eat?
Aaron Monaghan
Thursday, September 29, 2011 at 11:13 AMSo if I eat Chinese?
Does that make me Chinese?
Jess
Thursday, September 29, 2011 at 9:26 PMAwww, the sharks are just trying to be people. How cute.
They’d make better people than PETA people would.
Joel
Thursday, September 29, 2011 at 11:03 AMWait one more comment (this makes no sense!)
They’re telling us to go vegan? WHAT ABOUT THE SHARKS? They’re the ones going around eating everyone. I’ll turn vegan when the shark and lion does.
geg
Thursday, September 29, 2011 at 8:54 PM+1
TSH
Thursday, September 29, 2011 at 11:07 AMLike all extremists, PETA extremists are nutcases.
I think they’d get more traction if they appealed not to the better angels of our nature, but to a real human motivator: greed. After all, in protecting nature we protect our ability to exploit the rich and varied bounty of the Earth.
We are the top of the food chain and able to consciously affect whole ecosystems. We have as much right to exploit our environment as any other animal, and the means to do so. We do OURSELVES a disservice, and disadvantage OURSELVES, when we fail to account for unsustainable practices.
EckyThump
Thursday, September 29, 2011 at 11:12 AMAs a regular watcher of ‘South park’ I am legally allowed to inform you that members of ‘PETA’ actually marry and have sex with animals! This is a fact, if you don’t believe me, watch ‘South Park’ they showed an excellent documentary on the subject! So we should be arresting them for raping animals, who have no say no the matter! #]
Christian
Thursday, September 29, 2011 at 1:30 PMhere here!!!
PETA suck balls……lamb balls!
praz
Thursday, September 29, 2011 at 11:15 AMGood on you PeTA for such a wonderful campaign. When humans eat chicken/beef/pork/lamb/fish whatever, they’d never think about the pain they go through, why would sharks feel it then.
It properly justifies the “PAYBACK” !
Peter
Thursday, September 29, 2011 at 12:20 PMWow, you’re insane.
Just This Guy ...
Thursday, September 29, 2011 at 11:16 AMWell ofcourse PETA don’t give a crap about humans. That’s not their mandate.
There’s enough humans already thinking of nothing but humans and their greed etc.
PETA are there to defend animals as there aren’t very many animals looking after animal welfare.
That said, some tactics used by PETA could use a little watering down I guess, but sometimes humans need a brick thrown at them to make them pay attention.
EckyThump
Thursday, September 29, 2011 at 11:52 AMI think I’d rather leave it to the RSPCA et al, rather than these over the top activists, who for the most part are just batshit crazy! #]
jay
Thursday, September 29, 2011 at 10:30 PMbull they’re just “defending animal rights”! if that was all they were doing it would be fine, but instead they use it as an excuse to make these ridiculous, attention seeking, sexist and frankly disgusting ads! this makes me want to go eat a steak just to tell them to go frack themselves!
lolwut
Thursday, September 29, 2011 at 11:18 AMim getting more and more disenchanted with peta
Christian
Thursday, September 29, 2011 at 1:31 PMWhy on earth would you ever be enchanted with such a terrorist organisation?!?
Dan B
Thursday, September 29, 2011 at 11:34 AMI’m sorry but wtf, i’m supposed to go against the natural meaning of being an omnivore just because a group of nutjobs think that the animals somehow have more right to eat meat then we do, WAKE THE HELL UP humans have been eating meat since their beginnings, just because these days we no longer hunt for it and it is instead produced by farming doesn’t make it any less necessary to good health and any more “inhumane”.
Jamie
Thursday, September 29, 2011 at 11:42 AMMEAT IS MURDER!!!!
Tasty, tasty, murder…. :)
2SHY
Thursday, September 29, 2011 at 11:44 AMPeople for the Eating of Tasty Animals is better: http://goo.gl/I2qdJ
MDolley
Thursday, September 29, 2011 at 11:44 AMIt’s the age old question isn’t it, who ate who first?
While PETA is happy to claim that the shark attack was payback, maybe sharks have been eating humans for centuries and our ancient ancestors developed fishing to send a warning to shark kind?
I eat animals to ensure that they don’t eat me.
Just recently a young man was tragically kicked in the head and killed while milking a cow.
Chickens outnumber humans by around 3 to 1 and if they organised they could do some serious harm. A single chicken could easily peck out your eyes while you sleep.
The Chicken Revolution will be the downfall of humanity! The Mayan calendar predicts it! Our only hope is fear. We make them fear us by eating their flesh and their unborn young.
PETA is working with the chickens! Open your eyes!
glennc
Thursday, September 29, 2011 at 12:13 PMtoo scared to open them now
Ash
Thursday, September 29, 2011 at 12:49 PMThanks for that, I just spat coffee all over my keyboard… HAHAHAHAAH I’m doing my part to stem the tide of the Chicken Revolution.
Lord Crumplebottom
Thursday, September 29, 2011 at 12:53 PMI KNEW IT! Hence the KFC campaign! Sneaky sods…
Stew
Thursday, September 29, 2011 at 11:51 AMThere was a Penn & Teller’s “Bullshit!” episode that focused on PETA.
It’s AMAZING how insane they are. Words fail me. According to the episode, there’s evidence that shows they’ve used strong-arm thugs to get their way & have even assassinated others. I wish I was making this up.
You can draw parallels to PETA’s blind fanaticism to crazy religious pro-life nuts that harass women’s clinics & assassinate doctors, or Westboro Baptist Church saying god caused 9/11 because of the existence & acceptance of gay people.
By its very definition, there’s no understanding crazy.
Lord Crumplebottom
Thursday, September 29, 2011 at 12:50 PMSome vegetarians, especially vegans, do treat their lifestyle choice as a religion. Fanatically.
As some of us know – religion is just a form of control for some. Same deal here.
Bill S. Preston Esq.
Thursday, September 29, 2011 at 12:03 PMI’m ashamed Gizmo is giving these tards what they want – exposure.
glennc
Thursday, September 29, 2011 at 12:12 PMoverfishing is still a real issue whether you want to avoid it or not. don’t agree with their methods but do agree with their message.
Nads
Thursday, September 29, 2011 at 12:15 PMSorry to rock the boat but, I like my homosexuals flaming, and my animal rights groups a little insane.
Otherwise we will end up with bullshit RSPCA feel good organisations that don’t really do anything to progress animal rights.
I don’t agree with every thing PETA does, but you don’t need to. They do a good job in getting attention and in effect creating real change.
EMH
Friday, September 30, 2011 at 9:14 AMPETA knows nothing about animals and their suffering. Remember mulesing? An operation carried out on sheep to prevent flies breeding on them and literally eating the sheep alive. Mulesing is an act of kindness to sheep which PETA have killed so that now the sheep can be eaten alive. If you have never seen a fly-blown sheep you have a truly horrible thing waiting for you to see; you will not enjoy it. Think of PETA if you ever do see it, and remember to thank them for adding to humanity’s burden of guilt for suffering animals.
Josh
Thursday, September 29, 2011 at 12:36 PMI’m in PeTA, People Eating Tasty Animals that is :)
dr_nic
Thursday, September 29, 2011 at 12:38 PMAnd this has what to do with Gizmodo?
Danny Allen
Thursday, September 29, 2011 at 12:55 PMGood question Nic. Sometimes the more random US posts slip past my swinging shit stick, so
mea culpa on this one.
Christian
Thursday, September 29, 2011 at 1:33 PMummm…are we on LifeHacker or Giz?!
Dave Lord
Thursday, September 29, 2011 at 12:43 PMI have to say I am surprised by the lack of intelligent responses here! Some comments sound like they are made by neanderthals.
“Me have opposing thumbs…. can hold club….. me can kill animals to eat”.
The PETA campaigns are deliberately confrontational. Sadly, they need to be. Sadly, we do not consider the way that animals are mistreated until we see video like the Indonesian footage that sparked the ban on live animal exports recently. When confronted with the reality of animal slaughter, most rational people would at least consider whether they should either:
a. become vegan
b. become vegetarian
c. insist on the ETHICAL TREATMENT of the animals they eat.
There are many compelling reasons to be vegetarian, or vegan. There are very few valid reasons not to.
Joel
Thursday, September 29, 2011 at 12:49 PMWell some comments aren’t so serious.. like I wouldn’t actually eat the PETA people (although they’re probably all skin and bones anyway).
Also there’s a difference between the reality of animal slaughter and “Screw human welfare, if we eat them they should be able to eat us”.
Ethical treatment of animals = good!
Getting eaten by a shark cause some guy went fishing = bad :(
Carnivore
Thursday, September 29, 2011 at 1:06 PMDavid,
Most rational people understand that humans are omnivores, and need a balanced diet, one that includes meat.
Veganism is irrational, humans have incisors and front facing, depth perceiving eyes, we are designed to hunt for our protein.
There are two types of vegans in my experience, those who make their choice and get on with their lives, leaving others to make their own choices, and pseudo-religious zealots who shove their dogma in your face and claim a highly dubious moral superiority that is neither rational nor justified.
Guess which one gets my respect.
Dave Lord
Thursday, September 29, 2011 at 2:18 PMYou forgot to mention that we have opposing thumbs!
Also, check your facts re incisors. They are the teeth at the front of the mouth. They are used for cutting, and of course, smiling. They are always found on herbivores.
I think the argument that you are trying to put is that we humans have “canine” teeth. They are the long pointy teeth, and are used for tearing. They are called canines because they are found on dogs, and also on cats, baboons, etc. All of these animals have a long snouts which have evolved to make it easier for them to tear meat from a carcass.
In most humans, the “canines” are rudimentary, and are rarely much longer than the incisors. So they are canines in name only, and are totally useless in helping us tear flesh from a bone. That is why most “civilised” humans use a knife and fork.
We do not need a diet that includes meat. I have not eaten meat for nearly 40 years, and I am doing just fine. I get a free blood health check every time I donate plazma at the Blood Bank every couple of weeks. I am healthier than most meat eaters.
Lord Crumplebottom
Thursday, September 29, 2011 at 2:23 PMYou forgot “I’m not pompous in any way either.”
praz
Thursday, September 29, 2011 at 2:41 PMVeganism is irrational, humans have incisors and front facing, depth perceiving eyes, we are designed to hunt for our protein.
—————————————–
And what are sharks designed for ? blood ? well then don’t crib if you’ve been bitten by one while you FISH!
Protein can be gained without hunting !! Pulses and Fruites provide ample to survive. !!
so stfu and keep smiling
InformedGamer
Thursday, September 29, 2011 at 1:33 PMHaving an opinion on being a vegetarian is just like having a penis.
Sure, it’s great to have one and be proud of it, but don’t start pulling it out in public and trying to force it down people’s throats.
Christian
Thursday, September 29, 2011 at 1:34 PMstop! or you’ll go blind!
Lord Crumplebottom
Thursday, September 29, 2011 at 12:44 PMF%#@ PETA
Attention seeking a-holes that care nothing of the real issues and only how much their “non-profit” organisation can raise for their $mil+ Director salaries.
Been there. Done that. They are hypocrites of the highest degree that are only there to make a quick buck using fear and sympathy. eg. During the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico PETA were nowhere in sight to help with the animal rescue/cleanup – that was until 2 months later they started asking for donations. Then they still did nothing!
Yes, PETA make me see red with their bulls%#@ “we care” line.
Save a cow. Eat a PETA board member today!
DONAR
Thursday, September 29, 2011 at 1:57 PMPETA are joyless dickbags that rely on shock and titillation for results. Stories like this are how they share their back-asswards opinions. Just makes me want to eat a baby seal out of spite.
Vegan Black Metal Chef, on the other hand has made me consider some vegan recipes that I otherwise would not have looked twice at.
tl;dr Fuck PETA, VBMC FTW.
A. Social
Thursday, September 29, 2011 at 2:22 PMWhen you think about it, aren’t we all just animals??
Another Aaron
Thursday, September 29, 2011 at 2:45 PMI immediately thought the second thing, in fact I was thinking, ‘A group of dangerous sociopaths who value the lives of animals over humans’.
Then I started thinking of that South Park episode where all the PETA members are married to farm animals and then Puff Daddy (Swollen Father in Japan) shows up and shoots them all for throwing red paint on his fur coat.
Steve
Thursday, September 29, 2011 at 7:49 PMI was thinking more along the Sea Shepard episode.
Steve
Thursday, September 29, 2011 at 7:49 PM“Payback is Hell”???
Are these people insane? Or do they genuinely believe the premise of Jaws 4 that sharks are capable of computing human concepts like revenge?
Michael
Thursday, September 29, 2011 at 10:45 PMI find this easy to masterbate to. But to get back on topic, what would they do if one of their own members got eaten by a shark? Say that it was hungry and couldn’t find anyfood because of “over fishing” and they donated their body to help it live another day?