We – a group of concerned parents, educators, and animal welfare organizations – are asking the Los Angeles Unified School District to adopt a clear districtwide policy prohibiting the use of live animals as prizes, incentives, giveaways, gifts or promotional items at school events.

This campaign began after live betta fish were given away as "carnival prizes" at an LAUSD elementary school. Children left the event unexpectedly responsible for living animals, and within hours, parents were already looking for new homes for fish they did not want or were not prepared to care for. Local pet stores ran out of supplies, while parents scrambled for days to find appropriate tanks and equipment for animals that had suddenly been placed in their care.

We initially believed LAUSD's existing policies regarding live animals might already prohibit this practice. Instead, we learned that LAUSD has procedures through which events involving live animals as prizes can be approved.

That's the policy gap we're asking LAUSD to close.

Living animals are not objects.

Fish are sentient animals capable of experiencing pain and stress. Bettas have specific physical and behavioral needs, including appropriate space, warm and conditioned water, good water quality, enrichment and ongoing care. They can live for years.

Yet bettas are commercially bred on a massive scale and treated as inexpensive consumer products. Their ability to survive in very small volumes of water has made them particularly vulnerable to this treatment.

At the event that prompted this campaign, live fish were individually kept in small plastic cups and awarded to small children who won a carnival game.

A living being should never be reduced to a prize.

Using an animal as a reward turns that animal into an object of entertainment. Their welfare becomes secondary to the momentary excitement of winning a game.

Animal welfare should not be left to chance and the ethical problem exists regardless of the eventual outcome: a sentient animal should never have been a carnival prize in the first place.

There is an environmental cost behind a fish in a plastic cup.

The commercial betta trade relies heavily on individual plastic packaging. Because male bettas are transported and housed separately, fish move through the global supply chain in individual plastic bags, cups and containers. The University of Florida estimates that more than 100,000 male bettas are shipped by air each week, primarily from Thailand.

At the school event that prompted this petition, the fish were again individually displayed in small plastic cups before being handed out as prizes. All of that plastic waste, transportation and resource use ultimately served one unnecessary purpose: giving a living animal away for winning a carnival game.

Wildlife agencies also warn against releasing unwanted aquarium animals into the environment, where introduced species can potentially harm native ecosystems.

Schools teach children to reduce waste and protect the natural world. Using individually packaged, internationally transported living animals as disposable entertainment sends the opposite message.

The lesson we teach children is important.

Schools don't just teach through textbooks. They teach through the choices adults make, the example they give, and the practices we normalize.

When a living being, particularly an animal confined in a small plastic cup, is handed to a child as a carnival prize, we send the message that another sentient being can be treated as a reward, a toy, a trophy or an object of entertainment.

It also conflicts with the environmental values we teach our children. Schools encourage students to reduce waste, conserve resources, protect wildlife and understand that our choices have consequences. Using commercially bred animals that have been individually packaged in plastic and transported long distances as disposable entertainment sends the opposite message.

We can create all of the fun, excitement, tradition and educational value of a school carnival without involving a living animal at all.

Children don't need to win animals to have an amazing day.

California has already shown us another way.

Berkeley prohibits live fish from being used as prizes at fairs. Similar cases also led the San Mateo County Fair in 2024 and the San Joaquin County Fair in 2025 to prohibit live animals as prizes.

Their fairs and traditions continued. The live animal prizes didn't.

LAUSD can do the same.

What we're asking LAUSD to adopt

We ask LAUSD to amend its policies and procedures to establish the following districtwide standard:

Live animals may not be offered, awarded, raffled, sold, distributed, transferred or given away as prizes, incentives, gifts, trophies, promotional items or party favors at any District-sponsored activity or at any activity conducted on District property.

This prohibition should apply to activities organized by schools, parent organizations, booster organizations, nonprofit organizations, vendors and other third parties, regardless of whether participation requires payment, tickets, donations or other consideration.

We're not asking LAUSD to eliminate school carnivals, beloved traditions or opportunities for children to learn about animals.

We're asking LAUSD to establish one simple ethical standard:

Living animals are not objects. Living animals are not prizes.

Please join us in asking LAUSD to make that clear districtwide.

Sara G. Marti, in partnership with