'Fish blender' not cruel - court

[Mindy Kursban]

http://edition.cnn.com/2003/WORLD/europe/05/19/fish.blender.ap/index.html

'Fish blender' not cruel - court

COPENHAGEN, Denmark (AP) --A Danish art museum director was acquitted of
animal cruelty charges Monday after a court ruled that a display featuring
goldfish inside working blenders was not cruel.

The display at the Trapholt Art Museum in Kolding featured 10 blenders and
invited visitors to blend the fish if they wanted to. Somebody did in early
2000 -- and two goldfish were ground up.

Animals right activists complained that the exhibit was cruel. Museum
director Peter Meyer was fined $315 by police, but he refused to pay and
went on trial in Kolding, 125 miles west of the capital, Copenhagen.

Judge Preben Bagger ruled Monday that Meyer did not have to pay the fine
because the fish were killed "instantly" and "humanely."

During the two-day trial, a zoologist and a representative of blender
manufacturer Moulinex said the fish likely died within a second after the
blender started.

It was not known who turned the blenders on.

The installation was the work of Chilean-born Danish artist Marco Evaristti.

The Trapholt Art Museum draws about 80,000 visitors annually.