Unwanted Fish To Be Put Up For Adoption

SINGAPORE (March 10) - Unwanted pet fish will be put up for adoption in Singapore next week in an attempt to spare them from being flushed down the toilet, a fish show organizer said Wednesday.

''Fish have their lives, and they have feelings too,'' said Carol Lian, an organizer of the Singapore International Fish Show.

Fish owners with second thoughts can put their finned friends up for up for adoption at the four-day show, which starts Friday, Lian said.

''It would be more humane to bring the fish up for adoption rather than flushing them down the toilet or flinging them into the drain,'' she said.

Animal control officials said they didn't know how widespread fish-flushing was in this wealthy Southeast Asian city-state.

''Nobody knows the magnitude of the problem, or if its exists at all,'' said Goh Shih Yong, spokesman for the Agri-Food and Veterinary Authority. ''If it happens, it would take place in the privacy of people's homes.''

Organizers say they expect to draw 80,000 people from across Asia to the coming exhibition, which features exotic fish displays and fish beauty competitions.

Lian said she got the adoption idea from similar programs for unwanted cats, dogs and rabbits. She said she's adopted two goldfish and six parrotfish from people who could no longer care for them.