More councils follow Doncaster's decision to ban the use of pets as prizes on their land

The RSPCA has welcomed further councils banning the giving of pets as prizes on their land, following the relaunch of its #NoFunAtTheFair campaign in June.

Doncaster Council was one of the first to put the ban in place in September last year and many councils have now followed suit.

The most recent wave has seen Bassetlaw District, East Suffolk, Guildford Borough and Cambridge City Councils join in on the ban.

More than 7,600 people have called for their local authorities to take part in this action.

Lee Gingell, RSPCA’s public affairs manager for local government in England, said: “It really is fantastic news that more and more councils across the country are taking this action.

“We’d like to thank everyone who has supported this campaign so far - which really highlights how important animal welfare is to local representatives and their constituents.

The RSPCA hopes that the campaign will lead to a blanket ban of the practice by the UK Government.

It has always been common practice for goldfish to be given as prizes at fairgrounds in the country historically, however this goes against the RSPCA’s recommendations for the species’ welfare.

The RSPCA recommends that at least 60 litres of water is needed per fish, and people must research how to acclimatise them to a tank, what type of food they need and what other species they can live with.

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