Auckland pub managers are being warned to co-operate as SPCA inspectors close down an arcade game involving live crayfish.
The SPCA announced plans to close down several ‘Catch-A-Cray’ games in pubs in Auckland, where patrons pay $3 to attempt to capture live crayfish from a water-tank using a metal claw.
Animal rights group SAFE staged a protest outside The Albion pub yesterday, saying the game caused the crayfish stress.
Since their introduction last year seven bars have chosen to get rid of the machines. It is understood 15 bars across the country have opted to keep them.
The SPCA said it would visit Auckland pubs running the game and would make the games inoperable. The Albion hotel manager Andrew Jackson said the pub had not yet had a visit from the SPCA.
He said the crayfish were not being abused, and the machines would not be shut down.
It was the same as picking one out of a tank at a sea food market where there were “200 crammed together in a tank”, Mr Jackson said.
SPCA executive director, Bob Kerridge, says the organisation wants to stop cruelty to crayfish and had yet to decide if any operators would be charged.
The game has been the subject of intense investigation by the SPCA, involving expert species specialists and legal advice, Mr Kerridge said.
"Our expert advice is that the crayfish subjected to this arcade game are likely to suffer unreasonable or unnecessary pain or distress which is unacceptable in our view", he said.
"In view of this, after careful consideration, we have taken steps to prevent the further infliction of trauma on these animals."
He said under the Animal Welfare Act (1999) inspects may take “all such steps as are necessary or desirable to prevent or mitigate the suffering of the animal”.
The SPCA would do that by “rendering the mechanical parts of the machine unable to be used”, Mr Kerridge said.
Police escorts may be used if the SPCA inspectors do not get co-operation from pub managers.
Acknowledging the action might prompt court action against the SPCA, Mr Kerridge said he was satisfied the society had reasonable grounds, including legal advice, to take the action.
“The SPCA will simply not tolerate cruelty to animals in any form or for any reason,” he says.
It is understood games outside the Auckland region would also be closed.
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