Is A Goldfish An Animal?

[anotheoldgit]

http://www.worcesternews.co.uk/news/regional/11418731.Ross_on_Wye_man_avoids_prison_sentence_after_drinking_four_fish_in_Neck_Nomination_dare/

Yes the question could be "is this person an animal"?

But I don't want to discuss the disgusting drinking 'game' called 'Neck Nomination', but what I need to ask is "was the RSPC going a little over the top over this?

The court heard that this idiot will be able to keep his pet goldfish as Magistrates declined to disqualify him from owning animals. He could have also faced a six month jail sentence, and under the Animal Welfare Act, 'torturing or killing' the fish - each several centimetres in length - carries the same weight as killing four horses.

Do we make it a criminal offence to hook fish in angling, or allowing them to die out of water during commercial fishing, or even boiling a lobster alive.

/// Wooding was sentenced to an 18-month conditional discharge for two offences under the Animal Welfare Act; causing unnecessary suffering to a protected animal and failing to ensure the welfare of an animal of which we was responsible for. ///

[ummmm]

C&J....Yes.

[New Judge]

It makes no odds, jomifl. If a domestic goldfish escaped and was living "in a wild state" it would not be a "protected animal" for the purposes of the Act (see paragraph (c) in my earlier post).

[jomifl]

NJ :o)

[Obiter]

Can anyone remember, years ago, that Candid Camera sketch where a man went into a pet shop and began eating the goldfish (they were actually carrots)?

[jomifl]

Mrs jom recently bought a crab ...a live crab. So looked up on the web the most humane way of killing it (didn't fancy eating it alive) and a seafood company recommended stabbing it in the vitals. Apparently dropping a crab or lobster in boiling water cause legs to drop off and other problems which are deleterious to the quality of the meat..

[ummmm]

Lol....I remember that :-)

[ummmm]

Jom...I've always been told to put them in the freezer.

[ummmm]

I couldn't do it. I'm a wuss...