Calls for Carmarthenshire to implement ban on pets as prizes

RSPCA Cymru has been leading a campaign to ban the practice of giving pets – such as goldfish – as prizes.

Their #NoFunAtTheFair campaign has seen 12 councils in Wales, including Neath Port Talbot Council, implement a ban on the giving of animals as prizes on their lands, but the remaining councils - including Carmarthenshire - are yet to do so.

The full list of councils who have implemented the ban are: Bridgend, Caerphilly, Cardiff, Conwy, Flintshire, Neath Port Talbot, Newport, Pembrokeshire, Rhondda Cynon Taf, Torfaen, the Vale of Glamorgan and Wrexham. Some town and community councils in Wales have put their own localised action in place.

Welsh Government’s minister for rural affairs, north Wales, and Trefnydd, Lesley Griffiths MS, said in the Senedd that she hoped the remaining 10 councils introduce a ban, and stating that people should do all they can to encourage people to consider alternative prizes.

Neath Port Talbot Council has banned the practice, but Carmarthenshire has not. (Image: RSPCA Cymru)

She will also be writing to the remaining councils urging them to act.

Sioned Nikolic, RSPCA Cymru’s public affairs officer, said: “We are delighted to have the support from the minister who will now be writing to the remaining councils in Wales to urge them to ban this outdated practice.

“We hope that soon we will be able to say all 22 local authorities have taken action.

"It is clear that people are shocked to find this is still happening and we also know there is also a high proportion of the public – 84 per cent of people in Wales – who also want local governments to ban it on their own land.

“It really is something that people care about – and of course, we would still like pets being given away as prizes banned outrightly in Wales by the Welsh Government – as despite bans on council land, it can still take place on private land.”

Since 2020, there have been 42 reports made to the RSPCA about pets being given as prizes but the charity fears that there are many more incidents which go unreported.

The RSPCA believes that animal ownership is a big responsibility and goldfish – or any pet – should not be acquired via a spur of the moment game.

Goldfish are easily stressed and often fish that are won as prizes can suffer from shock, oxygen starvation or die from changes in water temperature. Many die before their new owners can get them home.