The saga of St. Petersburg’s most internet famous flying fish will likely close today, more than a year after it began with animal activist Michael Leaming launching a tilapia into Crescent Lake.
Leaming, 32, is charged with “interference with taking of fish,” a violation of Florida statute 379.105, and has a non-jury trial scheduled in Pinellas-Pasco Circuit Court in Clearwater this afternoon.
In July of 2017, a family was fishing from a concrete platform at Crescent Lake Park and had caught the tilapia when Leaming’s young son approached and said, “Did you know that fish feel pain?”
Seconds later, Mike Leaming confronted the family, asking what if it was a dog, or a human child on the concrete. He then grabbed the fish and launched it back into the water, shouting, “Call the police! I just saved a fish’s life, how about that? How about that?”
