Tuesday, October 25, 2005

Rome bans goldfish bowls seen as cruel

According to a report I just read on Yahoo News, "The city of Rome has banned goldfish bowls, which animal rights activists say are cruel..." The new law also bans fish or other animals being given away as fairground prizes. I will admit that I once got a goldfish at a local fair. My uncle Sven actually won a goldfish each for me, my friend Susie and my neighbor Molly. Yes, I have an uncle named Sven, I mean I am Swedish after all. My fish was of course aptly also named Sven and lived for a good long time in his fishbowl in the kitchen. I was five when all this happened, however, so "a good long time" in five year old time could have been a month or two. If you look very hard at the picture below, you can see Sven in the fishbowl in the background. My friend Susie's fish was eaten by her cat KK as I recall. My neighbor Molly's fish promptly died when she decided it would be more fun for it to swim in apple juice than water. A friend of mine works at a place called Wally's Aquarium, where they know pretty much everything there is to know about keeping fish as pets. Had Molly consulted him I'm sure they could have worked out a much better setup.

1 comment:

Mr. Shife said...

I always thought it seemed cruel to put those fish in the tiny, tiny bowls, but I guess they have like a 30 second memory so do they really care? And how do scientists know that goldfish have such a short memory?