Conger cuddling is a traditional event in Lyme Regis, Dorset, England, in which a dead conger eel is thrown at members of the Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI). The practice was stopped in 2006 when animal rights activists threatened to launch a campaign against it.
Part of the town's "Lifeboat Week", the eel is attached to a rope and thrown at nine people standing on flowerpots[1] in a manner similar to skittles. There are two teams involved in a last man standing competition.[2]
The event, which attracted around 3,000 people annually between the 1970s and 1990s,[3] was used to raise funds for the RNLI. It has been called the "most fun a person could have with a dead fish".[2] The event would generally raise around £5,600 (equivalent to £10,234 in 2023) for the RNLI.[4]
The event started in the early 1970s when Richard Fox, a retired publican, organised the first event. It became a tradition of the town, drawing numerous spectators.[5] Fishermen would catch the eels in their nets accidentally, freeze them and defrost them for the competition.[4]
In 2006 the RNLI made the decision that the event was "inappropriate" after a complaint was made[5] that it was 'disrespecting fish'.[6] The complaint was made by an animal rights activist who threatened to film the event and launch a campaign against it.[5] A spokesman says that "We decided that it really wasn't worth upsetting anybody by going ahead with using a dead conger, but it's a dead conger, for Pete's sake. I shouldn't think the conger could care one way or another."[4] For that year's event the eel was replaced by a plastic buoy, and there were plans made for a plastic eel to be made in time for a 2007 contest.[3]
The game was planned for a return in 2012 with a real dead eel, but not as part of Lifeboat Week, instead as a game in the "Lyme Lympics", a set of unusual local games. The Lympics were to be filmed for Rory McGrath's television series Great British Adventure,[6] with McGrath joining in himself,[7] however the event was cancelled on the day.[8]
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