Wayne, you're right about the pets issue and the anti's.
A lot of the PETA (and related groups, of course) propaganda involves a play on people's emotions, in relation to animals and 'cruelty'.
Which is why we need as anglers, as much as possible, to take a positive image of angling to the general public. We may not all have a public platform from which to speak, but we all have contacts.
Imagine if every angler only influenced one other person every six months. Then another, then another and so on.
Thanks for the comments by the way, much appreciated.