A town council has unanimously voted to ban pets, especially goldfish, as prizes at local fairs.
Councillors in Barnstable, Devon, backed a motion to outlaw the giving of live pets on any council land or at events.
Councillor Robbie Mack, who brought a motion, said: “When you buy a pet from a shop, you know what you’re doing, and you have a desire to buy the right equipment at the same time or beforehand.
“When you get one as a prize, you take it home, and you may, or may not, have the equipment and a lot of people are not prepared to have that pet.
“The other thing at fairgrounds is that a lot of people enjoy a drink at a fair. Therefore, they may not be in the best state of mind to choose and decide whether they should buy a pet at that time.
“There’s also the fact that children quite often win prizes, they may try and persuade their parent after they won the award that they want a goldfish, and the parent may not be prepared.
“It’s not a challenge on how they treat animals, but it’s about how the animal gets treated after it has been won. When it gets home, they could die of shock, oxygen starvation or a change of water temperature or from living in an unsuitable environment.”
