Pressure builds on Devon council to ban goldfish as fairground prizes

Pressure is mounting on a Devon council to ban live animals as prizes at fairgrounds.

People are urging councillors at Torridge District Council, which meets on September 20, to get behind a ban on goldfish and other live animals being given out because of concerns about animal welfare.

The motion to ban the distribution of live animals has been put forward by Cllr Chris Leather, who is keen to write to the Government about introducing a blanket ban.

He said: "This council is concerned regarding pets given as prizes via fairgrounds, social media and other channels.

"We are concerned for the welfare of those animals that are being given as prizes, and recognise that many incidents of animals being given as prizes may go unreported each year.

"I ask this council to support a ban on the giving of live animals, in any form, on Torridge District Council land.

"That we write to the UK Government, urging an outright ban on the giving of live animals as prizes on both public and private land."

Offering live animals as prizes is illegal in Scotland and but local councils in the rest of the UK are not legally obliged to commit to a ban.

It follows a recent agreement in Bristol where the city's mayor, Marvin Rees, has told officers to rewrite events contracts, after being informed about a campaign by the RSPCA.

He said: "I will ask the events team to ensure the contract is updated to clearly exclude live animals as prizes."