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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

Goldfish shouldn’t be prizes at funfairs

37 replies

Pigeonpoodle · 11/11/2025 06:55

I didn’t think this was a thing any more (the last time I saw goldfish offered as a prize was in the 1980s when I was a kid!)

However, there was a stall doing exactly this at a large firework display/concert on Saturday at a country house in East Suffolk (people from the area can have a good guess at where I mean)… Loads of goldfish in tiny plastic bags ready to be won if you could throw some darts accurately. I then saw a woman later that evening casually swinging her arm back and forth as she walked with a goldfish bag in hand, bashing the poor fish around in its tiny bag.

AIBU to think this practice is cruel and irresponsible, and that the country house who allowed this should be ashamed.

OP posts:
Original poster
Pigeonpoodle · 11/11/2025 07:38

One person thinks IABU. I’d be interested to know why!

Can I name the place concerned on here, or would that get this thread pulled?

OP posts:
BigGirlBoxers · 11/11/2025 07:31

Onefortheroad25 · 11/11/2025 07:25

Can’t believe it’s still a thing. Also,selling small animals to kids at fairs should be banned too. Google what happened on a train from Athlone to Dublin a few weeks ago. Would make you sick and make you cry too. Dreadful.

I think I just got reprimanded by Google AI:

'There is no direct information available on "fish welfare" in relation to a train from Athlone to Dublin, as this is a very specific and unlikely query.'
Grin

I'll need better keywords.

TheChosenTwo · 11/11/2025 07:27

Sil had one that her dd won and it lived for about 20 years 😱 I didn’t know they could live that long!
I didnt think it was still a thing that happened either op, it’s awful. Poor fishies 😭

Sprookjesbos · 11/11/2025 07:26

That's unbelievable actually! Definitely report it!

Onefortheroad25 · 11/11/2025 07:25

Can’t believe it’s still a thing. Also,selling small animals to kids at fairs should be banned too. Google what happened on a train from Athlone to Dublin a few weeks ago. Would make you sick and make you cry too. Dreadful.

CryMyEyesViolet · 11/11/2025 07:17

DiscoBeat · 11/11/2025 07:07

They never survive for long, we had a couple of fish at a local fete a few years ago and despite rushing them home and getting them into a tank they died a couple of weeks later. I'm glad if it's banned now.

The ones we had as a kid lived for like ten years. My mum was gutted as I think she only said yes to playing the game on the assumptions they’d only live a couple of weeks…

NoraLuka · 11/11/2025 07:16

I thought this had been banned years ago! The DDs won goldfish at a fair when they were little, and we had to buy a fish tank on the way home. It cost a fortune and then later we had to get another one because they grew! I hadn’t even realised they could win fish until they actually had the bags in their hands, the people running the stall definitely didn’t care what became of them.

Changingplace · 11/11/2025 07:15

I would report this to the council, even on private land they’ll need a licence to hold an event and I think this will breach H&S/animal welfare or trading standards rules.

Definitely call your local council department who issue event licences and report it.

Original poster
Pigeonpoodle · 11/11/2025 07:11

I thought it was banned too, but not on private land apparently. I don’t understand why anyone thinks this is a good thing to do!

OP posts:
DiscoBeat · 11/11/2025 07:07

They never survive for long, we had a couple of fish at a local fete a few years ago and despite rushing them home and getting them into a tank they died a couple of weeks later. I'm glad if it's banned now.

BigGirlBoxers · 11/11/2025 07:00

I definitely think you should write to the organisers. There are several legal restrictions on this and in some council areas in England a full-on ban.

The Animal Welfare Act makes it an offence to give animals as prize to anyone under 16, and, more importantly, it makes it illegal to cause (or fail to prevent) suffering, and to fail to provide an animal with all of its basic needs.

Danikm151 · 11/11/2025 06:56

I thought this was banned already!
last time I saw this was 2010 maybe?