Beasts next door
Thousands of dangerous wild animals – including lions, tigers, leopards and more than 75 crocodiles – are being kept in private homes across the country.
The astonishing number of creatures “living next door” includes nearly 300 big cats, 230 monkeys and more than 700 venomous snakes – including puff adders, black mambas and diamondback rattlesnakes.
Figures put the total of legally kept beasts at nudging 5,000 – and they live at more than 200 addresses.
The Born Free Foundation revealed the tally after a Freedom of Information request.
Under the Dangerous Wild Animals Act 1976 anyone can keep a wild animal if they obtain a licence from their local authority.
STRICKEN
The numbers are growing and, worryingly, they do not include an unknown number of wild animals being kept illegally.
In one case a range of unlicensed dangerous wild animals was found in the flat of an exotic pet owner in Basildon, Essex.
He had a 4ft spectacled caiman, a scorpion and venomous snakes including copperheads and cobras. Police found the stricken pets without food, water or a heat source. The snakes were in poorly ventilated plastic boxes. Seven of them were dead and had been left to decompose. The survivors were taken in by the RSPCA and the owner was jailed for six months.
Samantha Goddard, campaigns officer at Born Free, said: “These animals had been kept in appalling conditions, and without the necessary licences.”
The foundation says the trend of keeping wild animals as pets is a growing concern.
It is boosted by the ease with which people can buy an animal over the internet – often without clarification as to where it has come from or how it should be cared for. Wild animals are particularly vulnerable to welfare problems because of complex social, physical and behavioural needs.
They require specific housing conditions, diets and can be a safety risk to their owners and the wider public.
Samantha added: “Born Free is petitioning for a review of the law regulating the keeping and sale of dangerous wild animals in the UK.
“We want to see changes to the Dangerous Wild Animals Act 1976 to better protect these animals and the general public. “
The petition has more than 7,850 signatures but must hit 10,000 by December 4 to guarantee a response from the Government.