A UK man who swallowed a live goldfish as part of a online drinking dare has been fined STG300 ($A544).
The RSPCA says Gavin Hope was taken to court after he drank a glass of water with the fish in it for a Neknomination challenge, and footage of the stunt was posted on Facebook.
RSPCA chief inspector Michelle Charlton said the video first shows the 22-year-old preparing a pint glass with lager, chilli, tequila, a fresh egg and fish food before revealing why the fish food is going in.
"He picks up another glass containing a small amount of water and the goldfish, which is swimming around, and shows it to the camera before drinking it down, and following it with the pint," she said.
"A vet report advised that the stomach would be a completely unsuitable place for a goldfish and that the fish would have died in time, the cause of death being a mixture of suffocation and acid ph levels in the stomach, as well as the alcohol he drank."
The society said that Hope told them that he had owned the goldfish for a couple of months.
He said he thought it was ill as it kept swimming into the sides of its tank and he was going to flush it down the toilet but decided to drink it as part of his Neknomination challenge instead.
Hope pleaded guilty to an offence under the Animal Welfare Act - that he failed to meet the needs of a goldfish by failing to protect it from pain, suffering, injury or disease by drinking it.
Neknomination, which acts like an online video-linked chain mail. is reported to have originated in Western Australia.
