Fear

Carp are moved several times during their lives. Before they are caught, water is drained from their pond over the course of several days and the carp are forced into the ever shrinking depths of the pond. The carp are pressed together, each having less and less space and this is extremely stressful. In many cases the carp are driven into the nets by fishermen who beat the water with poles.

Once caught, carp are slid down a long chute which is riddled with holes. Smaller fish fall through the holes. It is via this crude mechanism that the fish are sorted by size. Sometimes a carp will become stuck in one of the holes and must be pushed through or pulled out by the fishermen. This is painful, even fatal, for the stuck fish. Surviving carp are then literally poured into overfilled containers and transported to a new pond or artificial rivers. In some cases, carp are forced to live with predatory fish from whom there is no escape.

When the carp are in their final containers and destined for sale and eventual death, they are constantly harassed by salesmen who mix the water and sort through the carp by hand to find one of the desired size. Carp which are killed at home have it even worse because children often play with them as if they were mere toys.

Scientific studies have shown that fish experience fear and the expectation of pain.

- Prof. Andrzej Elzanowski, zoologist

Photo: Martin Stolař, MAFRA

Struggle to survive

A carp out of water suffocates. They experience this several times as they are caught, transported and sold. Some people buy live carp which then suffocate for several hours in a plastic bag. Sometimes the water in which the carp are kept is also deficient in oxygen because there are too many fish for the volume of water. This can happen not only on the street but in artificial ponds and streams as well.

This is an aspect which, unfortunately, is not taken seriously enough. The fact that carp are able to survive out of water for a relatively long period of time does not mean that they do not suffer. Carp need oxygen just the same as people and when they don't get it they desperately fight for every breath, second by second.

- Prof. Andrzej Elzanowski, zoologist

Foto: Martin Stolař, MAFRA

Pain

The catching, transport and procedures which carp are subjected to as they are sold live on the streets can cause serious injuries to their skin, fins, and gills. Sometimes their muscles are injured as well. The main causes of injuries include falls (carp are frequently poured like sand from one container to another), being squished, high concentration of fish (a single container can contain 50 fish, or 600 fish per cubic meter of water), and rough instruments and generally uncaring handling. It is not hard to find injured fish in the tubs that line the streets before Christmas. Our activists have come across tubs where the water was stained by blood, and fish who had holes through their heads.

While they are caught the fish's fins may be caught in the holes in the nets. It is too much work for the fishermen to carefully free the fin, instead, fishemen often pull the fin out breaking it or even tearing it off in the process. Sometimes they will even cut the wedged fin away with pliers. Some fish hawkers will grab the fish by the gills when pulling them from the water, this leads to injury as the gills are not meant to cary a squirming fish's entire weight.

Despite the fact that these last two practices are banned in the Czech Republic, our activists have repeatedly documented them in recent years. Video footage was sent to city veterinary officials, who are supposed to enforce the law, no enforcement actions, however, have taken place so far.

Many people think that fish do not feel pain because they don't scream, but this is a big mistake. From an anatomical and physiological standpoint it is clear that fish feel pain in practically the same way as cats, dogs and humans. If you want to understand how fish experience this Christmas tradition, try to imagine neglected and injured dogs which are sold on the streets from overfilled cages.

- Prof. Andrzej Elzanowski, zoologist

Photo: Martin Stolař, MAFRA

Hunger

For the last two months of their lives carp do not receive anything to eat as this fasting increases the quality of their meat. Carp would not eat over the winter even in nature, but the containers in which they are transported and sold do not allow them to go into their natural winter hibernation and they therefore expend a much greater amount of energy. Keeping food from them dramatically weakens their immune system and there is a high likelihood that they suffer from their feelings of hunger.


Photo: Martin Stolař, MAFRA

Sickness

The practice of intensive fish production provides the perfect environment for spreading painful contagious illnesses among fish. Carp are inflicted with serious infections such as erythrodermatitis (KE) a Carp viruses (KV). KE is a bacterial infection which causes inflamation of the skin. This spreads across the whole body of the carp and can also travel deep into the skin which can cause the skin to fall off and open wounds. These wounds become the entrypoint for secondary infections. These wounds can be so deep as to reveal bones and muscle. KV is a viral infection. It effects the carp's kidneys, liver and lymph nodes and leads to bleading and failure of the immune system. 

Parasites of all types are spread among intensively farmed fish. They can infect almost any part of the body including the skin, fins, gills, eyes, heart, intestines, kidneys and liver. Some parasites drink the carp's blood, others directly attack the carp's internal organs and consume cells. Fish can also be infected with mold. The worse affected are fish which have already been infected with another disease.

Many of the carp sold on the streets are suffering from at least one infectious disease. It is relatively easy even to find fish who have died of these illnesses in the tubs from which they are sold.

A high concentration of fish makes it easy for infections to spread among fish. Serious and long term stress weaken their immune systems. Loss of their protective coatings and injuries caused by careless manipulation increases the risk of infection. This causes the fish to suffer from various infections as if they did not suffer enough already.

- Prof. Andrzej Elzanowski, zoologist.

Death

Many carp die even before they are butchered, mainly as a result of sickness, injury, temperature shock, stress and suffocation. The rest are killed in the streets.

According to regulation, carp should be stunned with a blow to the head before they are cut up but sellers all too frequently neglect to do this. Our investigations have shown that many carp are not sufficiently stunned. Others are not cut up directly after stunning and may wake with a serious pain to the head in a plastic bag or even as their scales are being cut off.

Home killing is not regulated at all in practice. Fish are often literally beaten to death by entirely inexperienced people. An old comic which shows an man, hammer in hand, searching for a carp under the bed is unforntunately not too far from reality.