Goldfish saved from sewer life

Paris – Paris’s biggest aquarium has created a refuge for goldfish – providing a second life for any unwanted pets who might otherwise find themselves flushed down the toilet.

The Aquarium de Paris allows the city’s residents to drop off their fish, with the numbers using the service swelling around the time of the long summer holidays.

Instead of facing death in the city’s sewerage system, the rejected goldfish find themselves given a full medical check-up, with antibiotics and antiparasite treatments.

After a month in quarantine, during which a minority succumb to the trauma caused by the change in location, they are released into a giant tank where they go on display to the public.

“Some of them arrive very weak,” said caretaker Celine Bezault. –