Bar's goldfish gulp stunt canned

A Hamilton bar owner under fire for offering live goldfish shots as part of a student O Week promotion has called the event off.

Agenda owner Logan Hughes said he had called off tonight's promotion as he ''did not want to offend anyone''.

The bar stunt had attracted widespread media coverage and concern, with one Waikato Times reader labelling the promotion "wrong and irresponsible" and said such behaviour should not be condoned.

Mr Hughes said everything had been ready for the promotion tonight.

''I can assure you we had every intention of going ahead but we did not want to get into a moral debate.
Bar staff would instead offer a chocolate fish and shot for everyone who asked for the goldfish drink and would have an SPCA donation box at the bar.

The climbdown came after Mr Hughes had initially said the promotion aimed at Waikato University students was "distasteful" it was not as cruel as everyone was making it out to be.

It was nothing new and was frequently done in the United States, Thailand and England, he said.

"There's a lot of research on both sides as to whether it's cruel," he told the Waikato Times this morning.
"But at the end of the day you look at commercial fishing and they're hooking fish and pulling them through the water."

The 200 goldfish would be held in a "spotless" tank out the back of the bar. Only 30 fish would be at the bar at one time.

"We don't touch the fish, we net them out and put them into a separate cup and then we pour the shot into a separate glass," Mr Hughes said.

"So it's not as though the fish is actually coming in contact with the alcohol or anything like that until, obviously, it hits your stomach.

"I wouldn't be doing it if I thought it was cruel. I do actually think it's a little distasteful but, at the end of the day, it's a little bit of publicity. We wanted to do something different."

Mr Hughes, said he had spoken to the SPCA about the promotion previously

"They said they didn't like the idea, and they personally wouldn't do it, but they didn't really have a problem with it."

SPCA chief executive Elizabeth Hunter could not be contacted this morning.

Waikato Times reader Jann Marx said while everyone did "dumb things" when they were young the promotion was a new low. "Do we really want to lead the future minds of New Zealand into thinking this is OK?"

According to website varsity.co.nz the fad for swallowing live goldfish started in 1939, carried over into the early 40s and was very popular.

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