109 thoughts on “Fashionable Goldfish Wear Labrets

  1. While I’m not sure how I feel about this morally, he sure does look cool. I bet he feels like the baddest motherfucker in the tank.
    And the alt-text made me laugh.

  2. “More animal-mods pictures to get mad about”

    Haha, cute, Shannon 🙂

  3. ummm morally in dont like it but i guess thats to be expected, but still no other fish is gonna mess with this one! hehe it does look cool and as in the interview if it isn’t affecting the fish then… so be it.

  4. How do you pierce a fish? Lol. Underwater or in the air? And they are so slimy holding them must be hard. Anyways he looks like a *hardcore* fish.

  5. Interesting argument, however…

    “we have always modified our pets with everything from identification tattoos and brands, to cosmetic surgery such as ear cropping, tail docking, and toe amputation”

    Excusing one form of modification by using others to support it could also be used in the context that ‘circumcision is ok because we have always modified penises and other body parts’ Just because something is or can be done doesn’t mean there isn’t a harm attached to it.

    I’m a meat eater though, so take my observation with a whole shaker of salt 🙂

  6. Awww, I find the piercing complements this fishs look. cool little fellow.

  7. Hopefully they just caught him at a bad time – usually when fish are chilling at the top of the tank like that, they’re not feeling too hot.

  8. hahahaha!!
    “see-if-i-care-if-you-call-peta”

    You’re definitely amazing HAHAHA!!

  9. As a vegetarian that doesn’t eat fish, I find this fairly amusing.

    I highly doubt his life has been adversely affected – in fact, I’m sure he’s better cared for in that shop than he would be any other places.

    I’m not saying that piercing animals is acceptable, but when someone who eats meat complains about something like this, that annoys me far more than the piercing itself.

  10. @ #8- it almost looks like there’s food flakes on the water’s surface…maybe it’s lunchtime?

  11. Looks like a healthy fish otherwise. So I’m gonna say it’s alright.. could do with a shorter labret though..

  12. Aw, poor wee lad. Of course, the contact from human hands stripping his slimecoat while he was having that installed was probabaly far more harmful to him than actually having the labret.

  13. pfft, like peta would do anything substantial. they’d probably flush the damn fish down the toilet before they made it out of the shop (while bitching at the owners for being horrible pet owners the entire time.)

    i’m a vegetarian, also, but i don’t see how that has ground in this particular argument. considering a vast majority of the world’s population does eat meat, there’s gonna be those that think mods on animals are cruel. yes, they’re full of hypocrisy, but getting annoyed at them is going to leave you stressed out and… well, constantly annoyed. 😛

  14. So long as it’s not shortening the fish’s life or anything I don’t really have a problem with it… those idiots who swallow goldfish and throw them back up are the ones I get mad at.

  15. I don’t see how a meat eater objecting to pointless decorative procedures on animals is hypocritical. There’s a vast difference between killing animals for food (even when other options exist) and injuring them for pleasure.

    Not only have studies shown that goldfish have a memory span of at least three months (not 30 seconds as is commonly believed), fish are distressed by being removed from water, and they almost certainly feel pain. Goldfish in particular can be harmed or killed by being touched. Goldfish also like to root around for food at the bottom of their habitat; it’s easy to see how the piercing could prevent this fish from feeding properly. Who knows what other ways this could affect the fish.

    The bottom line is, that this was totally unnecessary makes it pretty much inexcusable.

  16. I gotta say if there is any animal to mod, giving a piercing to a fish is probably the most normal. Think about the way that people go fishing…you use a hook which creates a hole. So technically fish are probably the most ‘used’ to getting pierced…

  17. I’m a vegetarian animal lover who has no problem with fish being pierced.. if they lived as normally as these people are saying, then they’re fine. But I’d like to put my two cents in to mention that fish do not by any means have 30-second memories.. even goldfish. There is plenty of evidence that they can be trained.

  18. @Bobb

    It is being hypocritical. You are killing animals purely for your own pleasure. There are resources in most nations to live a completely healthy life without any animal product. Your indulgence in meat is foundated by gluttony.

  19. I’m really talking about meat-eaters who feel that they are not being hypocritical by opposing this blog entry, not you in particular, Bobb.

  20. Well I don’t condone animal piercing…..BUT….your kind of doing the same thing when you go fishing?? …hooking things through the fishes mouth then ripping it out and throwing it back in the water…….this actually seems less cruel than fishing in my opinion.

  21. It seems hypocritical for meat-eating persons to complain because, generally speaking, animals that are slaughtered for food are put through cruel, terrible conditions and often tortured for pleasure – obviously, unnecessarily. That type of torture goes on far longer (usually the animal’s entire life span) than a simple piercing, ear cropping, et cetera.
    I’m a pesco vegetarian, but for health reasons, rather than animal rights reasons. I don’t see a problem with it. In terms of permanent damage and actual suffering, this doesn’t even compare to about any routine animal modification. It hasn’t seemed to hinder him at all, and I’m sure the pain was very temporary, otherwise he’d be trying to do something about it.
    By the way – the idea that gold fish have three or thirty second memory spans is a myth.

  22. What you say may (or may not) be true, but as someone pointed out above, justifying something unnecessary on the argument that it’s less painful than something else unnecessary is false logic.

  23. At first I was thinking “so thats from where the fish got caught right?”

    ….

    And then I realised it’s a freaking goldfish and I’m a freaking idiot…

  24. I wish to complain strongly about this. As a meat eater I find this downright inexcusable and very dangerous. If I ate that fish I could choke on that thing.

  25. Many of the pet (cattle horn ect is still branded) modifications mentioned here ie tail docking, ear shaping, identification tattoo and branding are illegal in the U.K as they’re considered animal cruelty. Therefore using them as an argument that piercing or performing a tattoo on a pet for cosmetic reasons is okay comes across as disgusting to a Brit.

    Sorry but the pet can’t request it therefore you should do it for your amusement.

  26. who thought to do that??!!!

    i would not pierce my little fishies. that is just odd!

  27. bobb, here on bme. you’ll see alot of things that are unneccasary. including tattoo and wait for it… piercings. im neither here or there on this one. if you ting its ok to “own” pets, than you already thing of them as objects. so why not pierce them up? and please spare me the my pet is my best friend/companion speech. im pretty sure youre pets arent free to leave when the relationship is no longer what they want.

  28. t.thomas, I hardly think that a person choosing to get themselves tattooed or pierced is the same as a person choosing to do the same to an animal. Similarly, I don’t believe that keeping domestic animals is the same as seeing them as objects. And while the animals I keep aren’t “free” in the sense that they’re not independent and wild-living, they do have plentiful opportunities to leave if they choose to; so far none of them has.

    So, while I know that some people believe that keeping any animal is morally wrong, I don’t think that keeping pets or even working animals is comparable to or leads to “why not pierce them up,” as you put it.

  29. I don’t like it… I get pierced because I choose to, I choose to handle the pain and disconfort..
    And just for the record, I also don’t like all the other pet “mods” mentioned, like ear cropping and such.
    I try to give my pets the most confortable life possible, and doind this just to get a reaction out of people.. I don’t know, it just seems… unnecessary! just my 2cts!

  30. I think it’s very interesting to see how this hasn’t seemed to have upset people as much as previous animal piercing posts have. Sadly I’m sure it’d be a whole different, um, kettle of fish *groan* if it were a little soft fluffy cat or dog. Same thing though.

  31. “It seems hypocritical for meat-eating persons to complain because, generally speaking, animals that are slaughtered for food are put through cruel, terrible conditions and often tortured for pleasure – obviously, unnecessarily.”
    -tranque

    God damn it! No, animals are not generally treated like they are in the god damn videos on PETA! Those are fucking PROPAGANDA videos. Yes, it has happened, obviously, but NO it does NOT happen all the time. You will be hard pressed to find anyone who treats animals in the United States like that. My father works in the veal industry, I go to farms MONTHLY! Guess what everyone is doing now? All cows are essentially living ‘free range’, but indoors. They are kept in stalls, but there are 20 cows to a large stall. Please tell me the “cruel, terrible conditions” we are putting them in! If these are so bad, you are doing the fucking same thing to the animals you have in your house! Sorry if I seem angry, but it gets annoying when people are so ignorant about a subject and spew lies that make an entire industry look sub-human.

  32. unless you are a very devout vegan, i don’t think anyone has any room to say shit about animal abuse…the things they do animals raised for eating are really messed up..i bet this made the fish feel cool lol

  33. I will make no comments on the topic of cruelty.

    But I will say, AWWWW fish are cute.

  34. Moe– I understand what you are saying, however, as a vegan, I do not abstain from eating animals because of the ‘terrible conditions’. I do it because, personally, I feel much healthier without meat in my system and because the death of innocent animals is avoidable in our society (no matter what conditions they are kept in). And it’s really awesome to hear the perspective of someone like you, who has witnessed the meat industry firsthand– I live in a big city, so I don’t hear much from that point of view.

    I’m just saying that there are other reasons to be a vegetarian/vegan, even if the myths of PETA are supposedly false. Animal torture does exist, but I’d say it’s primarily in the animal testing facilities.

    Just my two cents. And the fish? Meh, I’d prefer they wouldn’t do this, but I honestly don’t care too much.

  35. i loved the “More animal-mods pictures to get mad about” comment… that was gold!!!

  36. I find this very interesting…the interview was cool too. I almost want a fish now, so I could get it pierced. I’m sort of on the fence about it, on one hand it can’t agree or consent to this, but on the other hand, it’s a fish, and as someone above said, by owning it you’re already turning it into just an object, so I don’t know…the fish in the picture is awfully cute though.

  37. I say, if you want to pierce an animal, numb the area first so it doesn’t hurt it. As far as I know, you can’t numb fish.

  38. Not sure how I feel about this but they could have at least gotten the poor bugger some jewellery that fits properly!

  39. That is incredibly inhumane. I don’t see how this is “rad” at all. In fact, I get the impression that whoever did this is a douche-bag.

  40. Pretty lame honestly, to go through all that trouble would put the fish under massive stress plus it could die from infection. A lot of fish die after they’ve been caught and released due to stress then infection.

  41. Its a fish. Let me repeat that. Its a fish. It doesn’t have feelings. It doesn’t have emotions. It isn’t even really aware of its surroundings.

    What would you rather be subjected to; the morally wrong forced piercing, or the morally right extreme confinement?

    If this was a dog, or maybe even a cat, I would be more sympathetic. But then again, if you take the time to modify your pet, you probably also take the time to care for it, which makes you a better owner then many people who have non-modified pets.

  42. Zillions of goldfish get sold as feeders to feed other fish.
    Dried fishfood itself is made out of…fish.
    So I guess this guy could have it a lot worse.
    Its better than getting other types of metal in the face (ie: a hook) and a few drops of Melafix and some aquarium salt will help to destress him and keep away infection now that it’s done.

    BTW, the new trend in pet fish is tattooed fish. They actually tattoo designs and words on the little fish…mollies in particular. I’m not sure if I’d pay extra for a tattooed fish or go to the trouble of piercing a fish but whatever.

  43. This was done for the selfish pleasure of the person involved. It serves no purpose. This is yet another case of pure animal cruelty.

  44. just as a side note, all animal cruelty and whatnot aside:
    many types of fish have great big gaps in their mouths at the lip area, i’m not sure about goldfish, but i’ve caught a few bass that when reeled in had the hook in the most amazing part of them, these open areas (not the gillls, although those are open to the water as well) that they have in their mouths. much to the chagrin of those super duper animal activists (btw i’m a totally dedicated animal lover, yet not a vegetarian), i think that there are ways of putting a barbell in a fish that would not injure them at all.

  45. It’s only a goldfish. Yes it feels pain, yes it can remember types of stimulus, yes it is alive.

    But it’s a goldfish. Yes, it isn’t kind to do it, but there are far worse things you could do. Rapists, murderers, wifebeaters, dictators, rebel militia killing women and children, the american government dropping bombs on civillians.

    I like my steak mooing. I don’t care if you think I’m a bad person for it.

  46. I want one! Fish have no nerves. I’ve caught fish before with old rusted hooks still stuck through the mouths and faces, and they seem fine with it. Once my buddy caught a muskie and found an old lure in it’s stomach when he filletted it!

  47. Moe, if such terrible conditions are all propaganda, please explain to us how one gets veal in the first place.

  48. totally agree with CC. we are the dominant species on the planet and we act as thus. in the natural order, everything eats something else. some animals are herbivores and the carnivores eat them. the entire world is just about population control. i remember a statistic from somewhere that unchecked and under optimal conditions (meaning nothing eating/killing them) 2 flies can create offspring that will cover the entire earth within a year.

  49. What’s the point of this?What does it acheive?I don’t care if it makes the fish look “cute’, its conpletely unessescary.One of the reasons many people disagree with piercing babies ears, and other modifications done to young children, is because they can’t consent to it,and its not nessescary to put young children through pain.The exact same goes for animals.If they can’t ask for it, why do it? Whilst yes,all my pets have little tattoos on the inside of their ears from when they were spayed,that was done by a vet, under anaesthesia, for ID purposes,at least i’m not putting holes through their ears, or anything like that.I disagree with this, in case you can’t tell.
    And at least put a shorter bar in there!It sucks having a too-long labret bar.

  50. Also, I would just like to say that posts like this make me sad. Not because someone pierced a fish, but the comments always turn into vegan bashing. I find it odd that in the community where I would assume to find more open minded and accepting individuals, I seem to find the most negativity.

  51. You could also say that the breeding of goldfish types is inhumane and only for the selfish purpose of human enjoyment…particularly the quite “mutated” types of goldfish. Barrel eye, Bubble Eye, Lionheads, pon pons, orandas.
    In fact, the whole fish keeping industry is for the enjoyment of humans. Period.

    Fish don’t “consent” to being incarcerated in an aquarium.

    So is fishkeeping wrong?

  52. it seems like more people are shocked by a goldfish with a labret than a little 2 years old girl getting her ears gun-pierced because of her mother… ^__^

  53. @61. I think you’ll find that the entire debate about eating meat started with a vegetarian/vegan ‘bashing’ meat-eaters, and calling us hypocritical for seeing this as animal cruelty. I have actually found the statements of the majority of vegetarians/vegans here to be incredibly insulting and small-minded.
    I eat meat for two reason: from a nutritional standpoint as I feel that meat provides me with the nutrients I require in the form that we have evolved into utilising; and because I like it. I don’t care one iota if others want to eat meat or not, never mind the reasons they have, as that is entirely their choice. I regularly shop in an entirely organic vegetarian store and love the food they provide, including the wonderful variations on meat they have, and ofter go days without eating any meat whatsoever. However I thoroughly believe in variation in a diet to meet our nutritional needs and therefore do not feel compelled to turn vegetarian just because I ‘could’. As for cruelty to animals – I will only eat free-range meat or animal products. Intensively farmed animals make me furious and sad and I won’t touch them. I feel that the sooner the general public realise how awful the conditions are for these animals the sooner this will change, and it can change if we want it to. There is enough room for free-range animals if we choose not to waste the food they provide, and decide to eat less of it (and thus a more varied, healthy diet).
    Anyway, back on topic – I see this as perfectly comparable to piercing a baby. This poor animal has no choice in the matter of its piercing, however they were the one who felt the pain and inconvenience of it. And why? Because its owner was bored. It’s a load of bullshit to say that he’s probably well cared for – we that is a huge assumption and entirely unfounded. And this situation is not comparaple in the slightest to simply keeping pets. Do you think an animal would prefer to be in a warm house with plenty of things and people to play with and feed it when it wanted, and not have a worry in the world, or be outside constantly seeking shelter and food? I don’t know, but I definitely don’t lose sleep over it.

  54. I’m going to make one statement about this entry: I hope that someday alien giants come to planet earth, see us as pets, and pierce & tattoo us.

  55. As a sometimes vegan, it’s my feeling that the world is over-saturated in largely unavoidable cruelty. It’s very difficult to make an argument based on morality on this issue without being a huge hypocrite. I feel that the only “valid” and objective compelling argument one can make for a vegan-centric lifestyle is environmental — the planet simply does not have the resources for a meat-based diet most of the time. People can either convert willingly, or be forced to convert by the upcoming food shortages of the next few decades that have already begun (or stay/become rich enough that they can afford meat).

    Really, piercing a goldfish is a little silly perhaps, but I don’t think it’s much of a moral issue. In terms of the things we do to animals, this is almost meaningless… If one worries about this, one should carry a broom so as not to crush insects when one walks like some parody of a Buddhist.

  56. Just because this was posted in an amusing context, doesn’t mean you all should just go along with it.
    Shannon said “the world is over-saturated in largely unavoidable cruelty” and he is right. But this is AVOIDABLE cruelty.
    As an authoritative figure to alot of readers Shannon, are you oking this event? Are you saying it’s ok for people to pierce their pets? I truly hope not.

  57. Michelle – First, I think equating the emotional capabilities of a goldfish with a complex mammal like a dog or a cat is ridiculous, so don’t think you can draw a conclusion about all pets from a goldfish.

    Anyway, the reality is that it’s kind of pointless to speak out against this unless one also wants to speak out against obvious things like sport fishing, and less obvious things like the very ownership and entrapment of slave amusement animals in general (which requires multiple entire industries to support it). I mean, do you tell your pet-owning friends that they’re cruel bastards for paying to have other animals raised in disturbing environments and then brutally killed to feed their slaves? I doubt it.

    Anyway, am I condoning it? Of course not.

    Do I think it’s “wrong”? I suppose.

    Do I care if someone does this? Not really.

  58. I wasn’t trying to equate the emotional capabilites of a goldfish to that of a dog/cat. I was only making the point that if someone said it was ok to pierce a fish, some people might take that to mean it was ok to pierce pets in general.

    For the record, I don’t agree with sport fishing 😉 But I don’t give people who enjoy it a hard time, it’s just my opinion.

    You make some very good points about pet ownership! Are you using this as an example or are you really against owning pets?

    Thanks for your response!

  59. Is this any more cruel than keeping that beautiful fish in a bowl? I see that all the time. Sad goldfish in small bowls filled with dirty water. (Of course, this particular goldfish might actually be one of those, but since I don’t know I won’t assume.)

  60. After 71 comments I’m not sure why I’m making a comment cause I suspect there’s a fair amount of people who have stopped reading by now, but in my opinion, it’s hard to get worked up about a pierced fish. If your going to get upset about that, why not be opposed to fishing in general? It’s not like ripping hooks out of a fish after you catch them is “humane”.
    What about shooting fish with arrows (I forget the name of the bastards they catch like that, but it’s horrifying to watch)?
    Or people that don’t keep their fish tanks at home clean?
    My point is, once you get worked up about a goldfish with a lip piercing there’s a plethora of stuff to keep you going with…

  61. I think it is a bold accusation to say that the people who find this inhumane do not feel that the other issues that you just refered to are also inhumane. I personally opose them all.

    Does anyone else feel that all life is equal and should be respected as such?

  62. kt
    you’re a “totally dedicated animal lover”, yet you go fishing?
    somehow that doesn’t seem very logical…

  63. From a purely logical perspective, justifying this on the grounds that it’s less cruel or painful or whatever than other things we do to animals is just silly.

    And by the way, Shannon, I believe you’re thinking Jainism, not Buddhism. And again, it’s a false analogy. There’s a vast difference between a belief system that sees life as so sacred its adherents try to avoid causing even unintentional harm and just generally acknowledging that, whatever else we might do, it’s a good thing to avoid causing unnecessary distress to a living creature.

  64. Bobb – I’m not saying that *I* would do this. I’m saying that if I’m going to get upset about animals rights issues, pierced goldfish are VERY low on my list of worries.

  65. you guys all take life too seriously. OMG they pierced a goldfish, that is so wrong!!! goldfish don’t live forever. i don’t see why anyone would get so worked up like this when the world around them is so fucked up. oh and another thing. i work with meat every day of my life, i work with people who used to be in the business of slaughter and one person who raises cattle for that reason. what people don’t understand is that these meat and dairy cows are born to die. they don’t know what the outside is, they don’t know what it is to be free. they know no other life from the day they are born until the day they die. do you really think that cow gives a fuck? no its a cow. it’s not like the meat industry is running around with nets catching wild cows, hahaha.

  66. i thought you werent supposed to go in water during the healing phase?
    quite a conundrum.

  67. #78 You aren’t supposed to go into public bodies of water, but if you just want to take a bath and you clean it thoroughly before you go in, it’s fine. So as long as all those goldfishes with fresh piercings take the extra trouble of cleaning their tank before they go in, they shouldn’t have a problem 🙂
    I’ve nothing to add to the moral debate at hand, as I don’t even consider this fish piercing “wrong” enough to devote too much time and thought to.

  68. I’m not even going to go into a vegetarianism/veganism debate (and as a committed vegetarian and animal welfare supporter, its tempting)

    Just one thing, and its the same as what I said for the rat. Whoever did this was acting like a douchebag, and not in the interest of the animal. It doesn’t give a flying shit if it has a labret piercing. He not going to go to a gig and have all its fishfriends tell him how gnarly he is.

  69. Oh, and…I think that it would be far more acceptable to go catch wild cows with a net…at least they’d live a free range life outdoors and not be part of the intensive rearing systems that provide so much of the Western world’s meat. Happy, lean cows rather than lazyfuck fat cows.

  70. I think this fish is doing better the then guys goldfish next door thats been swimming in the same filthy water for 3 months… isn’t that cruel?? Thats more unhealthy for a fish than a little barbell.

    Or what about when kids decide they don’t want the responsibility of raising a fish anymore and they flush them down the toilet alive??

    Those people can do whatever they want with their goldfish… leave this guy alone.

  71. Shannon, I agree that a pierced fish is very low on the totem pole of animal cruelty. I think that people making comments like #78 prove that there are a lot bigger problems in the world as far as animals are concerned. This is pretty much just something you roll your eyes at and move on.

  72. “#65 – I’m going to make one statement about this entry: I hope that someday alien giants come to planet earth, see us as pets, and pierce & tattoo us.”

    Best of all the comments. 😀

  73. okay then, what about dog fights or cock fights? dogs that get chained to posts in yards for days and days until animal control comes when it’s too late? what about kittens that get simply thrown away because people don’t know how to take care of their animals? what about hunting? mounting you’re kill above your fireplace is a problem concerning animals, all of those are. those are bit more malicious than raising cattle for food. don’t you think if a cow knows nothing in life but roaming around in the grass out in the open, wouldn’t it induce more trama for the animal to be stripped of that, thrown on a truck and brought to slaughter? really, think about it. all i was trying to make a point about is that the meat industry has it down, not all beef cattle are mistreated like those one or 2 videos on the internet, most are killed quickly and in a humane manner. worry more about those bastards that go out and buy puppies and kittens, then decide the next day that it’s not worth it to take care of them. i’m sure most domestic animals have it worse than beef cattle. do you ever hear of these places getting shut down for having emaciated cattle? no, but you do hear about it in domesticated animals.

  74. Lauren/#41- I agree that there are other reasons for being vegan, and I wasn’t trying to say that PETA videos were the only one. It just seems to me that people who make (in my opinion) rather ignorant comments on the subject tend to have not done a whole lot of research on the subject. I would bet that I find animal torture just as sickening as you.

    Katie/#58- The calves go to the farms, either live indoors in large stalls as I explained, or they live free range. They are hardly ever being tied up anymore, at least not with any of the farms my father deals with. They are fed a protein-rich diet, usually eating three to four times a day. They walk around, chill, talk, do whatever the fuck cows would normally do. They are not beaten, they are not tortured, they are not starved. In fact, doing these things would make the cows unhappy, thus making them not eat, which in turn would not put any meat on their bones. This would make the farmer unhappy because he wouldn’t make….MONEY! The cows are then loaded into a semi truck. Some farmers use cattle prods (electric sticks), but some don’t. I’ve been sapped by one. It really isn’t anything to write home about. They are sent to the slaughter house, where they are slaughtered, obviously. At the slaughter house they absolutely do not tie them upside down, alive, and slice their throats. I know the oh-so-powerful videos you have seen online show people doing this, but I’d give it a 99.9% chance that it is going on in a third world country, and I hope you or anyone you know is eating any of that meat. I leave the other .1% for all the sick perverted people in this country who find pleasure in doing such acts. The cows have a pneumatic ram shoved through their head , killing them instantly, feeling absolutely no pain. Can’t say I’ve tried this one myself, but it has been shown that this is an effect way of painlessly killing animals…and people, I suppose if you’re into that kind of thing. Surprisingly enough, even the people at the slaughter house don’t want to put the animals through any unneeded pain. The meat is then packed up and shipped to your local super market, pr distributer, or whatever.

    If you’d like any other details, let me know. This is of course what I have seen, and what people are supposed to do. Of course there are sleazy fucks out there who find pleasure in torturing living things, but please know that it is not even close to the majority of the meat industry.

    That was a long one, sorry.

  75. thank you moe, you made my point about cattle in better detail. haha an it’s getting confusing with the amount of katies posting on this one.

  76. As soon as I saw a pierced fish, I just knew that there would be a shitload of comments on both sides of the fence – and I wasn’t disappointed. Nothing like a picture of animal mods to start a good debate (or fight?) Anyhow, my cat has his BALLS CUT OFF! Which is probably a bit more extreme and hardcore than a goldfish with jewelry.

    Actually, now that I think about it, I should look into whether or not Watson is eligible for his own ‘BME Extreme’ membership. He IS a eunuch, after all. And he’s definitely not too modest to send in nude genital shots.

  77. I think this is infuriating. That is an acrylic bead on what is most likely externally threaded crap. That fish should have DEMANDED Anatometal.

  78. I haven’t read the rest of the comments. But in addition to spaying and neutering, tail docking and ear cropping for ridiculous “breed standards” are pretty hard-core mods.

  79. lol @ Mrs. Penguin. My little kitteh is also ball-less. I forgot to ask him before I did it, woops…I just didn’t want him pissing all over my house. I’m a sick fuck, I know…I have absolutely no care for animals at all blah, blah, blah, blah. That would be something interesting to find out, how many animal-rights activists have domesticated pets with no balls/claws/vaginas. :0

  80. The argument some people are putting forth more or less amounts to “this thing some people do to animals is a lot more cruel than the thing this person is doing to an animal, so what this person is doing is either ok or not worth getting upset about.” It’s a pretty poor argument.

  81. Their is a definite beneficial purpose to having most animals fixed so I don’t see any correlation between that and piercing a fish for no reason other then the amusement of some people at a studio.

    As for the thought that there are more sadistic things in the world then piercing a fish well of course but like my mother always told me two wrongs don’t make a right…

  82. Okay, maybe cattle are not the most abused animals in the meat industry. I know that life is not like a PETA video and that PETA are weird fanatical lunatics. Luckily I live in the UK so they are not as much of an influence.

    BUT, I do know what goes on in farms. Although I am not part of a farming family myself, the county which I was born and also the county which I live in has a strong farming background, so it is all around, both good and atrocious systems. If anything I like Wild Food proponents because they go and kill their dinner and not buy it pre-packaged from a supermarket like the one I work at.
    The treatment of poultry in intensive systems is the most cruel display of industrialised farming.

    I also find all the other forms of animal cruelty atrocious, it is just that cattle farming had been the one focused on.

    And to the ball-less cat people. My cat has no balls, but he was a rescue cat. Either way, having a cat neutered in a safe, clean environment under anaesthetic is in my mind, preferable to it running around at night impregnating unspayed cats and producing unwanted or stray litters with no hope of survival.
    That labret on the goldfish was done for nothing more than human amusement.

  83. So much for the consensual aspect of body modification. This is repulsive & a shame on the body mod community. It only serves to further the opinion that those into body mods are ignorant, etc.
    PETA has nothing to do with it. Just because ONE group of “fanatics” irritates people doesn’t mean cruelty doesn’t exist. It’s so easy to use the PETA scapegoat to somehow justify your abuse & cruelty.
    Anyone who forces a modification on an unwilling, non consenting participant needs to take a hard look at themselves & modify their thought process.

  84. Of all the animal rights groups and collectives I don’t think it’s PETA they have to worry about.

  85. As someone who eats whatever he wants, my choice of eating habits has absolutely no bearing on my opinion of this.

    I don’t know why people are putting their food preferences on this topic, but I figured I should join in.

  86. I agree completely with #95 and #96.I doubt the fish ENJOYED having a needle stuck through his mouth, not to mention being taken out of the water to have it done.The reason people choose to get modified is just that: because they CHOOSE it,and want it done.I doubt highly that little goldfish went to the piercer”you know what’d be cool?if you pierced my labret!”.He didn’t want it in the first place.He had it forced upon him.Which is what i find most wrong in this whole situation,the fact that an unwilling, non-consenting participant was pierced.I’m a big fan of free will, and this fish doesn’t have that.It just makes me angry that some idiot chose to do this…

  87. “pierced goldfish are VERY low on my list of worries.”

    Hokay then.

  88. i’d just like to say that it was very nice of the piercer to let the fish pick out the color of the ball. he chose blue. next week he’s getting his nipples pierced.

  89. *67

    shannon- you mean like a jain? (follower of jainism)
    Jains insist that we live, think and act respectfully and honor the spiritual nature of all life

  90. i’m sure the goldfish thinks it’s better than being on the receiving end of a fishhook.

  91. thats cool and funny, but i dont know…. its just a fish, but a fish can feel pain,too ?

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *