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ANIMAL

Big deal caught in Swedish waters

A fisherman in western Sweden has caught the first deal fish seen in Swedish waters since 1969, just days after another deep sea fish made its first appearance in the country for more than a century.

The 2.30 metre long deal fish was caught off the coast of Bohuslän in western Sweden in a trawler skippered by a local fisherman.

“The flat body has a silver sheen and a powerful red dorsal fin along the entire length of the fish, as well as a fan-like tail fin that is just as red and peculiar,” Martin Larsvik at the Sven Lovén Centre for Marine Sciences told local newspaper Bohusläningen.

“Like many deep sea fish, it has large eyes. It swims with wriggling movements at depths of 200 to 900 metres,” Larsvik added.

The catch was the second of its kind in just a few days. The Local reported on Tuesday of the belated reappearance of a deep sea creature closely related to the deal fish. Kurt Ove Eriksson, a 73-year-old fisherman living in Bohuslän, found a 3.50 metre giant oarfish near his hut by the harbor. The fish was last seen in Swedish waters 131 years ago.

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ANIMAL

Paris authorities to shut down bird market over cruelty concerns

The Paris city council on Wednesday agreed to shut down a live bird market operating in the historic centre close to Notre Dame cathedral, responding to rights activists who called it a cruel and archaic operation.

Paris authorities to shut down bird market over cruelty concerns
Photo: AFP

The bird market on Louis Lepine square in the centre of the French capital has long been a fixture in Paris, operating close to the famous flower market.

But Christophe Najdovski, Paris' deputy mayor in charge of animal welfare, said that the market was a centre for bird trafficking in France while conditions for the birds were not acceptable.

“This is why we are committed to changing the regulations to ban the sale of birds and other animals,” he said.

The closure had been urged by activists from the Paris Animals Zoopolis collective who had called the practice of showing the caged birds “cruel and archaic”.

France and Paris have in the last months adopted a series of measures aiming to show they are at the forefront of efforts to protect animal welfare.

The government said in September it planned to “gradually” ban mink farms as well the use of wild animals in travelling circuses and dolphins and orcas in theme parks.

Parc Asterix, which normally has some two million visitors a year, announced last month it would close its dolphin and sea lion aquarium.

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