Terrible Fishy Tale

Joan Higgins, aged 66, has been selling pets and fishing tackle for years from her shop in Sale, Manchester, England. Then one day an officer from the trading standards department decided to lure her into selling a goldfish to an underage boy.
The first point about this surreal case is that it does not seem unreasonable for a 14 year old to buy a goldfish. You can understand the police setting up 'sting' operations for shops selling cigarettes or booze to underage youths, but why are they wasting £20,000 on operations to trap shopkeepers selling goldfish?

So far, so bad - but it gets worse, the magistrate fined Mrs Higgins £1,000, presumably as an example to other shopkeepers. If you are struggling to believe the story up to this point, then you will be incredulous with the sting in the tail, 66 year old Mrs Higgins was told to wear an electronic tag and was made the subject of a curfew order normally reserved for violent repeat offenders. Why was it necessary in this case?

We wonder if Mr Iain Veitch, head of public protection at Trafford Council, is sane when he said: 'Let this conviction send out a message that we will not tolerate those who cause unnecessary suffering to animals. The council will always try to support pet and business owners so that they are able to care for their animals properly, but where they continually ignore the advice they are given, we will not hesitate to use our statutory powers.'

In case you are wondering, no animals were hurt in this true story; the goldfish was adopted by an animal welfare officer.