Fish Feel Pain

Health Editor’s Note:  I have suspected for a long time that fish do feel pain. I stopped fishing a fairly long time ago, although I used to accompany my dad in his quest for the large mouth bass.  We have a pond, apparently full of fish, so many that it is reported by the previous owner that you can throw a line in and be guaranteed a fish on the other end.  I have seen these fish while floating on the surface in the kayak and while doing some pond clean up.  Some are very tiny and some are very large.  So you see, these guys are now viewed as pets, since some come to the surface when you walk along the edge.  So…of course there is no fishing allowed in Duff Pond because these are entities that we take care of and care about……Carol   

It’s Official: Fish Feel Pain

by Ferris Jabr, Hakai Magazine  Smithsonian.com

When Culum Brown was a young boy, he and his grandmother frequented a park near her home in Melbourne, Australia. He was fascinated by the park’s large ornamental pond wriggling with goldfish, mosquitofish, and loaches. Brown would walk the perimeter of the pond, peering into the translucent shallows to gaze at the fish. One day, he and his grandmother arrived at the park and discovered that the pond had been drained—something the parks department apparently did every few years. Heaps of fish flapped upon the exposed bed, suffocating in the sun.

Brown raced from one trash can to another, searching through them and collecting whatever discarded containers he could find—mostly plastic soda bottles. He filled the bottles at drinking fountains and corralled several fish into each one. He pushed other stranded fish toward regions of the pond where some water remained. “I was frantic, running around like a lunatic, trying to save these animals,” recalls Brown, who is now a marine biologist at Macquarie University in Sydney. Ultimately, he managed to rescue hundreds of fish, about 60 of which he adopted. Some of them lived in his home aquariums for more than 10 years.

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Carol Duff, MSN, BA, RN

Carol graduated from Riverside White Cross School of Nursing in Columbus, Ohio and received her diploma as a registered nurse. She attended Bowling Green State University where she received a Bachelor of Arts Degree in History and Literature. She attended the University of Toledo, College of Nursing, and received a Master’s of Nursing Science Degree as an Educator.

She has traveled extensively, is a photographer, and writes on medical issues. Carol has three children RJ, Katherine, and Stephen – one daughter-in-law; Katie – two granddaughters; Isabella Marianna and Zoe Olivia – and one grandson, Alexander Paul. She also shares her life with her husband Gordon Duff, many cats, and two rescues.

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