Fifty Two Goldfish

[Tengu]

Yes, thats another of my typically enigmatic titles, isnt it?

But its a story about 52 domestic carp, all gold ones.

Talking with a friend and they were telling me about their friend who has a Thai monk staying with them.

They were having a spell of ill luck, so he had a plan to turn that around.

They were sent off to get 52 all gold goldfish (and can you imagine what a job that was!)

He then released them into the Thames, to gain good karma.


I am dubious of the legality of this act, it certainly isnt a good thing to do.

 

[JonnyP]

He then released them into the Thames, to gain good karma.

Certainly not legal and certainly won't get good karma, those fish will not survive long, being brightly coloured, they will soon be eaten by predators...
Some people are so stupid...

 

[BOD]

But, don't you see, all the bad luck has been transfered to the gold carp now.

And someone may spot a golden fish and be delighted and feel truly lucky.

 

[xylaria]

I like cultural oddities like this. The disspelling of bad luck is subjective on your perception of events. If you going to effort of showing benevolence to the most insignifacant of creatures by showing them a brief look of natural world before they are gobbled up by a pike, the brief feel good factor it gives would disspell bad luck if you believe it so. If you are the type that doesn't feel you can change bad luck with goldfish, you are proberly the type that believes you make your own luck so is unlikely to ask a thai monk for advice. Nowt as queer as folk.

 

[mick miller]

Got a name and number? I'd quite like to report him, transfering native species from one river to another is strictly illegal let alone the release of non-native species into the water courses.

Goldfish can (and often do) carry SVC, this disease is deadly to our own native populations of carp and can cross over to infect chub, a relative of the cyprinid family. The fact that th goldfish may not survive is an irrelevancy, SVC is extremely infectious and the infection doesn't exhibit until the water temperature rise in spring / early summer.

I can think of a thousand and one anglers and conservationists who'd like to visit a little 'karma' of their own onto this idiot!

 

[h2o]

my terrapin escaped and some stupid woman told the kids who found it to ;put it in the park lake. We have never seen terry since !!!

 

[Kepis]

I can think of a thousand and one anglers and conservationists who'd like to visit a little 'karma' of their own onto this idiot!

Me being one of them:BlueTeamE , releasing any fish into a water course without consent is a criminal offence, all fish that are released/moved need to have a Section 30 Health Check, once this has been carried out and if the fish are disease free, the EA will issue a Consent to stock and move the fish, I know, i have just stocked 6 lakes with in excess of 30,000 fish of differing species.

Even though the lakes are all on one site, i need a Section 30 to move fish from one lake to another, even though it's only 12ft away!

I know of a local fish farmer who had 3000 mirror and common carp, albeit small ones, he wanted to move the fish out to make room for Japanese Koi, however when the result of the Section 30 was received the fish were infected with tape worm, the EA told him he had two choices, keep the fish in the stock pond or dig a pit and bury them, he was also banned from introducing any more fish into theis particular stock pond, plus if he wanted to use the pond for other species in the future, he had to drain it dry, treat it with lime and leave it dry for two years, just to ensure the tape worm infestation and the eggs of the worm were killed off. Our native fish stocks are in enough trouble already, without idiots introducing non natives and the high risk of disease they carry.

Im with Mick, i would quite like to report this guy, but unfortunately the damage has already been done, and there would be no proof of his activity to support the report, unless you have photo's/video of the illegal stocking Tengu?

 

[h2o]

maybe the guy didnt release the fish!!! maybe he,s a fairground hook a duck vendor.

 

[Nightwalker]

I dont know, all sounds a bit fishy to me. :theyareon

 

[Tengu]

I have no evidence of this other than hearsay, Im afraid, but it might be something to keep an eye open for in the future.

Perhaps we should approach Monks with bad luck tales and see what they suggest????

The grotty thing about this was I posted this tale on a general board and they were indifferent; if it had been xtians/muslims/neopagans doing it there would have been an outcry.

But Buddists have such a bad hippy reputation (mostly undeserved, of course, there is not such a faith in the world for pious excess and spiritualised violence) they seem to get away with anything.

some minorities are like that.

 

[big_swede]

I have no evidence of this other than hearsay, Im afraid, but it might be something to keep an eye open for in the future.

Perhaps we should approach Monks with bad luck tales and see what they suggest????

The grotty thing about this was I posted this tale on a general board and they were indifferent; if it had been xtians/muslims/neopagans doing it there would have been an outcry.

But Buddists have such a bad hippy reputation (mostly undeserved, of course, there is not such a faith in the world for pious excess and spiritualised violence) they seem to get away with anything.

some minorities are like that.

Can you give examples of this spiritualised violence that buddhists allegedly practise?

 

[Arth]

I wonder why 52 fish? Maybe it would be ok in his orginal country but to take it out of context and release those poor little fish in our waters is crazy.

 

[Humpback]

Can you give examples of this spiritualised violence that buddhists allegedly practise?

Kidnapping goldfish and transporting them in a their kaa ma

 

[BOD]

I too am keen to know what is meant by spiritualised violence.

All faiths have members who can be considered to practice pious excess but its not apparent to me what "spiritualised violence" Buddhists practice.

As for this particular monk, he is probably well meaning but ignorant of the ecological impact of his actions as many of us would be in other environments let alone the laws of other countries.

The onus is on his hosts to guide him. One wonders why they did nothing.

 

[Arth]

spiritualised violence is basically a life sacrifice in a religious format

 

[BOD]

I see. Common to many religions but less common in Buddhism I would think

 

[born2roam]

Getting OT here in my opinion...

I am not about to elaborate about buddhism but this was the alleged act of a person... not a religion...

So if we need to go on about this topic; a stupid act of releasing an introduced species in another country (let's not talk about foxes, rabbits, cats, deer, goats, buffalo, cane toads etc..) is NOT related to ANY religion etc....

sorry for almost starting a rant here....

Fwiw, I have spent about a year in Thailand, Laos and Cambodja which is pretty much Buddhistic...
Grtz Johan

 

[Tengu]

Martial arts

 

[happybonzo]

I think that there's a Canal somewhere in Rochdale or maybe Manchester, where you can catch Goldfish. There is a steady population