Vegan activist Tash Peterson has faced accusations of hypocrisy on social media after footage showed her removing fishing equipment from a father and son at Bondi Beach, with critics pointing to previous incidents where she complained about people touching her protest materials.
Facebook users highlighted the apparent contradiction between Peterson taking the fisherman’s property whilst previously objecting when people attempted to grab her megaphone or placards during demonstrations. “So she can take off with someone’s fishing rod, but it’s assault when someone tries to take her loudspeaker?” one user wrote.
Another added: “Yet someone grabs your sign in public, and you ask them not to touch your property. The math ain’t mathing. Make it make sense.”
The incident began when Peterson pulled a large fishing rod from a sand spike where it had been secured on the beach. Footage shared on social media shows the confused owner quickly grabbing the rod back while his son looked on as the activist stated: “Animals deserve to live, fish feel pain, and they want to live.”
Initially, the fisherman avoided confrontation and walked away, but Peterson continued addressing him about fishing in front of his son. “Your child is compassionate. He was clearly distressed by what just happened. Your child has a heart, stop teaching him to abuse and murder animals,” she stated.
Peterson then pulled a second fishing rod from the sand, prompting the man to grab it back and tell her to leave him alone. “Imagine what it feels like to have a hook in your mouth and suffocate to death. Put these away now. This should be illegal. Put them away now. Destroy this torture equipment,” she continued.
The activist defended her actions by drawing comparisons to other forms of intervention. “If someone stepped in to stop a person shooting dogs, would the outrage be about the intervention, or about the dogs being killed,” she stated.
Despite widespread criticism, some Australians praised Peterson’s actions. “You’re just amazing. It’s so hard to operate in a world where you care so deeply while nobody else gives a s***,” one supporter wrote.
A second supporter stated: “As a vegan of seven years I can tell you now, life for us is not easy. Yet we’re the ones getting beaten up for doing the right thing. Seriously, folks, there’s something very wrong with the great majority of people out there. They’re sleepwalking.”
Another supporter added: “Fishing for fun is weird.”
Peterson has frequently made headlines for confrontational animal rights demonstrations, including a 2023 protest inside a KFC restaurant where she poured red paint on the floor and claimed the chain and non-vegan customers had “blood on their hands.”
The online criticism focused primarily on what users characterized as inconsistency between Peterson’s willingness to touch others’ property whilst objecting when people do the same to her protest equipment. “What gives you the right to touch their property?” one Facebook user wrote.
The incident has reignited debates about appropriate protest tactics and the boundaries of activism, with Peterson’s supporters arguing intervention to prevent perceived animal harm justifies property interference whilst critics maintain she should apply the same standards she expects during her own demonstrations. The footage continues circulating on social media as the debate over her methods persists.
