A fairgoer was horrified to see goldfish up for grabs as a prize.

Michelle Riley was at the Cuckoo Spring Fayre in Laughton, near Lewes, on Saturday when she saw a stall at the funfair offering people a goldfish if they "stick three separate cards".

It also offered fish food and goldfish bowls for sale. 

Ms Riley said: “It’s 2024 and I’d have expected progress on this practice of winning goldfish at the fair.”

The Cuckoo Spring Fayre is an annual event which runs over the spring bank holiday weekend each year.

The Argus: The stall at Cuckoo Spring Fayre offered goldfish as prizes - and fish food and fish bowls for saleThe stall at Cuckoo Spring Fayre offered goldfish as prizes - and fish food and fish bowls for sale (Image: Michelle Riley)

She spotted the stall offering goldfish prizes at the back of the fairground area.

Ms Riley said: “I saw them in the heat of a hot sunny day. The stand was covered in live fish swimming about stacked in sealed buckets.

“It is an awful practice.”

A small sign at the back of the stall read: "Goldfish are living creatures. If won, they will require proper care, attention and feeding."

Giving goldfish as prizes was banned in Scotland  in 2016 but remains legal in England, Northern Ireland and Wales.

Evie Button, RSPCA animal welfare expert, said: “We all want to see a world where pets are acquired responsibly, well looked after and respected. But sadly, many goldfish are at risk with their welfare hingeing on the spur of the moment result of a game at a fair or carnival.

“Goldfish are easily stressed and often, fish won as prizes suffer miserably from shock, oxygen starvation or die from changes in water temperature, and many will die before their new owners even get them home. They're misunderstood pets - as they can make great companion; but can be challenging to look after and owners must do their research before they acquire the fish, not afterwards.

“We've seen huge progress on our campaign to end pets at prizes recently and more than 12,000 people have backed our call for action. Every single local authority in Wales has now banned this activity on their land and many councils in England have taken action too.”

The organisers of the Cuckoo Spring Fayre were contacted for comment.