The End of an Era

I don't know if I've ever seen a lead in a news article as evocative as this one from a this one from BBC News a few days ago: "Can it really be disrespectful to swing a dead 20lb fish at a group of men to raise money for lifeboats?"

Not only does this question demand an answer, it screams out for an explanation. That explanation isn't quite Monty Python's Fish Slapping Dance, but it's close.

For forty years during Lifeboat Week, Lyme Regis, Dorset, has had a tradition it called "conger cuddling." This activity, which would often draw an audience of 3,000, consists of nine people standing on blocks and trying to knock each other off. Fairly simple and straightforward, except that their only weapon against each other is a conger eel and a rope. They swing the eel at each other to make their opponents lose their balance and stumble off the blocks. This is all done to raise funds for The Royal National Lifeboat Institution.

Except that it all changed this year. An anonymous animal rights supporter threatened in an anonymous e-mail to lead a national protest against the event, so the RNLI decided to let it go. The e-mail writer found the activity disrespectful to the dead animals. Instead of eels, the contestants this year used plastic inflatable bouys. It goes without saying that the whole event is not the same.