Poland's holiday traditional fish – the carp – has gained significant rights thanks to a new bill passed which protects the animal.

Sellers are no longer allowed to keep the fish in too-small tank or pack a live fish to a plastic bag, according to a newly-passed bill which protects carp by legally enacting the same rights for vertebrates as for the fish.

Ireneusz Szelinski, the regional veterinary authority in Konin, central Poland, said that the new legislation protecting animals “included fish, and carp, in the list of animals,” as well as making sure that their treatment in raising, sales and butchering, is humane.

“Our inspectors will be monitoring to make sure proper procedures are followed,” says Tomasz Wielich of the Regional Veterinary Inspectorate in Poznan, western Poland.

The new procedure for killing the fish – a staple part of the traditional Polish Christmas meal – stipulates that the fish can only be killed by a blow to the head and children are not allowed to witness the act of killing. In practical terms, this means that fish sellers are forced to separate the space where the fish are kept and where they are sold. Additionally, the person responsible for butchering the fish is required to be professionally trained in the task.

“These are basic laws which sellers will be required to execute. It will be especially necessary to educate consumers that purchasing a fish and putting it in a plastic bag is simply a slow, drawn out way for it to die through suffocation,” says Szelinski. (mmj)

Related audio: