A family planning to eat a fresh fish which they bought in a local wet market in China almost missed out on the meal after this little lad stole it from the sink, and ran off with it when he realised his grandmother was going to kill it.

The incident was filmed in Handan in the northern Chinese province of Hebei on 19th July.

According to the father of the boy, identified only by his surname Cheng, he bought the live fish from the wet market in the morning.

Wet markets are popular in China and Southeast Asia where they sell fresh meat and fish, with many of them selling live animals like this fish.

When he got home, Mr Cheng put the fish in the sink in order to keep it alive and fresh before it was time to cook it and eat it.

His son was delighted at seeing the living fish in the sink, and Mr Cheng allowed his son to play with the animal.

But at midday, the boy’s grandmother wanted to kill the fish for her lunch, and when he realised her intentions, the little boy grabbed the fish and ran off with it leaving the grandmother baffled as to where the fish had gone.

In the footage filmed by his father when he discovered the boy with the fish, the little lad can be seen crying and stroking the fish in an attempt to console it at its impending fate.

Mr Cheng said he didn’t expect that his son would grow so fond of the fish so quickly.

Although fish need water to breathe they can survive sometimes for hours without it which was the case with this fish that was still alive when the father took it back from the son.

In the end, Mr Cheng killed it secretly when his son was not looking.