A 20-year-old who swallowed two live goldfish as part of a dare in the online drinking game Neknominate, before regurgitating them, has been fined £200.
Jack Blowers, from Lowestoft in Suffolk, was filmed placing the fish into a miniature aquarium set up inside a pint glass in February this year, to which he had also added gravel and fish food. He then downed the lot in one go. The film then shows him vomiting the contents of the glass into a toilet, after which he recovered the two goldfish from the toilet bowl and gave them to his grandmother.
A court in Suffolk was told that the RSPCA prosecution was in the public interest because of the level of pre-meditation involved. At the time of buying the fish at a local pet shop, Blowers was sober, the prosecution said.
The fish are still alive, although in a report presented to magistrates, vets confirmed that the fish would have suffered. Blowers pleaded guilty to failing to protect the fish from suffering and failing to meet their needs.
Blowers’ lawyer said he did not realise he was breaking the law.
Blowers was fined £200 and ordered to pay legal costs of £600. He was banned from keeping animals for 12 months.
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