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By Mark Hume

A vegetarian, animal rights group that thinks nothing of recruiting kids to its cause, is lobbying in the United States to have sports fishing banned in state parks.

It is expected to bring its campaign to Canada soon. The lobbying effort over State parks is just part of a broader campaign that ultimately wants to halt all fishing - both commercial and sports.

People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, PETA, claims to be the largest animal rights organization in the world with 750,000 members. It is active in both the United States and Canada.

In the U.S., PETA this fall has sought to stop a sports fishery for salmon in Oregon and has urged several state governments to ban sports fishing in parks.

On Oct. 31, PETA wrote to the North Dakota Parks and Recreation Department to request that all fishing be banned.

"The violent process of fishing and its consequences do not complement the peace and tranquility of a state park. As you know, fish have a neurochemical system like ours and thus the brain capacity to experience fear and pain. Fish who are torn from the water suffer from being impaled, thrown, stepped on, or mutilated while alive. Many die slowly and painfully from suffocation," wrote Dan Shannon, coordinator of PETA's Fishing Hurts Campaign.

Earlier Mr. Shannon also wrote to the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife, demanding that surplus hatchery fish not be killed.

"The claims that these fish need to be killed because they are not well adapted to the wild are false. If the fish were not well adapted to the wild, they would simply die on their own and would not have to be killed by hatchery workers. These salmon have successfully survived threats in the ocean and streams, and are demonstrably capable of assimilating themselves into the wild population," wrote Mr. Shannon.

In Canada, PETA is currently engaged in a campaign aimed at getting school children to stop drinking milk.

PETA representatives have been handing out cards outside schools, telling them that milk causes blemishes, makes them fat and makes them fart.

The campaign, which Robin Smith, the executive director of the B.C. Dairy Foundation called "alarming," is clearly aimed at exploiting children's insecurities and lack of self esteem.

PETA likes to target kids.

On its web site, Ronald McDonald, a marketing icon for the McDonald's fast food chain, is portrayed holding a blood stained knife above his head.

"Ronald McDonald has been luring children into McDonald's restaurants like the witch who used candy to lure Hansel and Gretel into danger," warns PETA.

It urges kids not to go fishing with adults, and warns them against even eating fish because the flesh may contain "PCB's, dioxins, mercury, lead, and arsenic, which can cause health problems ranging from kidney damage and impaired mental development to cancer and even death."

PETA has protested fishing derbies in the past, including posting billboards near venue lakes.

One billboard features a dog with a fishhook stuck through its lip, the ad copy asks: "If you wouldn't do this to a dog, why do it to a fish?"

The tactics used by PETA include hysterical statements and deliberation distortions that are meant to misinform. The target: impressionable children.

Be forewarned.