Plea for ban on magician's goldfish trick
By Pan Zheng and Lu Feiran |
February 16, 2011, Wednesday
|
Print Edition
Print Edition
ANIMAL rights groups have urged the organizer of the CCTV Spring Festival Gala Show not to allow a magician's goldfish act in tomorrow's Lantern Festival variety show or in any future programs.
The act, which featured in the Spring Festival show, raised suspicions that the fish were being mistreated.
And some people even tried to replicate the trick, resulting in dead fish.
But Chen Linchun, the show's chief director, said yesterday there would be no animal magic on tomorrow's CCTV show while the magician, Fu Yandong, said the trick didn't involve any harm to the goldfish, Beijing News reported yesterday.
In an open letter to CCTV directors, 53 animal rights groups, including China's Green Beagle and the ACTAsia for Animals, called for a ban on animal performances on all CCTV gala shows to prevent the public trying to imitate them. The letter also called for a "fair third party" to examine the trick to ensure the goldfish weren't being made to suffer.
Whistle blowing
"People have no idea how to achieve the magic effect without hurting goldfish," Liu Huili, a researcher with the Green Beagle, said yesterday. "Before we know what's exactly going on in the magic, we don't think it's appropriate to show such magic."
In the trick, Fu blew a whistle to make the goldfish swim in formation in any direction he wanted. After the show, there was a heated discussion on the Internet by people eager to discover his secret. Some people believed the magician put tiny magnets into the fish or directed their movement using electric shocks.
Some even tried to replicate the effect by buying goldfish from pet stores and stuffing their stomachs with metal pellets or attaching metal clips to their bodies. Inevitably, the fish died.
No mistreatment
Fu said his magic involved no mistreatment of the fish but refused, in common with most magicians, to reveal how he achieved the effect.
Fu's manager, Liang Ming, said the magician didn't do anything that could be construed as torturing the fish. But he called on people who saw the trick not to try to replicate it.
"We welcome any examination of the magic, and they will not find any animal mistreatment," Liang said.
"But on the other hand, we won't stop performing the magic in public."
Meanwhile, one Shanghai magician claimed that entertaining the public was more important than animal protection.
"As magic is not a new way of performance, magicians have to rack their brains to get new ideas," said the performer, who would only identify himself as Wei. "What they should care about is giving audiences a brand new experience."
Green Beagle said that before China had its own animal protection law, the organization could only refer to laws made in other countries. "Basically performers shouldn't force animals to do something against their natural instincts, otherwise they torture the animals," Liu said.
The act, which featured in the Spring Festival show, raised suspicions that the fish were being mistreated.
And some people even tried to replicate the trick, resulting in dead fish.
But Chen Linchun, the show's chief director, said yesterday there would be no animal magic on tomorrow's CCTV show while the magician, Fu Yandong, said the trick didn't involve any harm to the goldfish, Beijing News reported yesterday.
In an open letter to CCTV directors, 53 animal rights groups, including China's Green Beagle and the ACTAsia for Animals, called for a ban on animal performances on all CCTV gala shows to prevent the public trying to imitate them. The letter also called for a "fair third party" to examine the trick to ensure the goldfish weren't being made to suffer.
Whistle blowing
"People have no idea how to achieve the magic effect without hurting goldfish," Liu Huili, a researcher with the Green Beagle, said yesterday. "Before we know what's exactly going on in the magic, we don't think it's appropriate to show such magic."
In the trick, Fu blew a whistle to make the goldfish swim in formation in any direction he wanted. After the show, there was a heated discussion on the Internet by people eager to discover his secret. Some people believed the magician put tiny magnets into the fish or directed their movement using electric shocks.
Some even tried to replicate the effect by buying goldfish from pet stores and stuffing their stomachs with metal pellets or attaching metal clips to their bodies. Inevitably, the fish died.
No mistreatment
Fu said his magic involved no mistreatment of the fish but refused, in common with most magicians, to reveal how he achieved the effect.
Fu's manager, Liang Ming, said the magician didn't do anything that could be construed as torturing the fish. But he called on people who saw the trick not to try to replicate it.
"We welcome any examination of the magic, and they will not find any animal mistreatment," Liang said.
"But on the other hand, we won't stop performing the magic in public."
Meanwhile, one Shanghai magician claimed that entertaining the public was more important than animal protection.
"As magic is not a new way of performance, magicians have to rack their brains to get new ideas," said the performer, who would only identify himself as Wei. "What they should care about is giving audiences a brand new experience."
Green Beagle said that before China had its own animal protection law, the organization could only refer to laws made in other countries. "Basically performers shouldn't force animals to do something against their natural instincts, otherwise they torture the animals," Liu said.
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