June 16, 10:28 a.m. [View larger]

Tuesday morning at Pike Place Fish Market: Taho Kakutani is ready to throw another big fish over to his co-workers behind the counter. A tourist is taking a snap of the monkfish that seems to come alive every time a string attached to its mouth is pulled by one of the fishmongers behind the stand. Nothing new at the world-famous Seattle location.

But apparently new to PETA. The animal-rights advocacy group is denouncing a planned team-building exercise by the Seattle fishmongers at an upcoming convention of veterinarians. They've offered to buy them rubber fish instead, and they ultimately want them to stop the corpse toss at the market too. They say morally, it's no different than tossing dead kittens.

Kakutani respects their opinion but disagrees. "They are another group of people very passionate about what they do," he said. "It's a different perspective." Dick "The Bass," the Fish Market manager, feels the same way. "They can have their opinion."

Despite the PETA protests, the American Veterinary Medical Association plans to carry on with their program. I think I'm not the only one who supports their decision and the fishmongers. "The byproduct of all this is that we've got a huge outpouring of support. It's been a really positive experience," Kakutani said.