by the end of this year, trade in live fish will be abandoned and "Rimi" - updated title and first paragraph, new paragraphs 5, 6
Vilnius, January 30 (BNS). The retail chains "Iki" and "Rimi" plan to give up live fish aquariums altogether this year, "Maxima"will reduce their number.
"Since 2016, there are no live fish aquariums in any of the reconstructed stores, by the end of this year there will not be any of them in any of the stores, they will only be slaughtered fish", Indrė Baltrušaitienė, the communication manager of the "Iki" shopping network, told BNS.
According to the representative of the center, it was decided to give up live fish aquariums because it is difficult to ensure good conditions for them, especially during the festive period.
"One of the reasons is to ensure the well-being of live fish, because there are a lot of them, especially during the festive period, and it is difficult to prevent them from being harmed," said I. Baltrušaitienė.
The "Rimi" shopping chain also intends to dismantle aquariums in large shopping centers by the end of the year, aquariums are also no longer installed in newly opened centers.
"These decisions were made based on Rimi's corporate responsibility policy, where we are committed to and encourage our partners to adhere to animal welfare standards. We also responsibly assess the concern of the buyers who are indifferent to her, the organizations that unite them", says the comment sent by Renata Keršienė, head of Rimi's public relations, to BNS.
The Maxima retail chain announced on Thursday that it intends to phase out live fish aquariums.
According to the report, during this year the number of aquariums will be reduced from two to one in six stores of the chain or they will be abandoned altogether, and aquariums will not be installed in the newly built ones.
According to the report of the shopping chain, aquariums with live fish are currently available in larger format Maximos stores, which are equipped with one or two aquariums each.
Norfa's representative Darius Ryliškis confirmed to BNS that the retail chain does not have live fish aquariums.
There are no aquariums in the network "Lidl". "We take the position that there are no live fish aquariums," network representative Greta Cibulskaitė told BNS.
Animal rights advocates are urging retail chains to end the trade in live fish.
The author is Milena Andrukaitytė
