Jail for zoo worker who sold penguins on Facebook
A THIEF who stole a pair of penguins from a zoo and sold them on Facebook has been jailed for more than two years.
Bradley Tomes, 25, broke into South Lakes Safari Zoo in Cumbria on two occasions in 2018 to take two Humboldt penguins named Pablo and Penny and sold them to a collector for £9,000.
The former zoo employee also took numerous exotic birds worth £53,000 when he burgled the attraction, a court heard yesterday.
Police were alerted to the crime in January last year when an exotic animal collector from Nottinghamshire contacted them to report he had bought two penguins from a seller on Facebook, but they were in poor health.
When Tomes went to refund the buyer and collect the penguins, which are native to the Pacific coast of Chile and Peru, officers were waiting to arrest him.
Twelve Roseate spoonbills, valued at almost £20,000 and part of the only collection of the breed in the UK, have not been traced, the hearing was told.
Prosecuting, Wendy Evans, said “Bradley Tomes showed utter disregard to the well-being of the birds he stole from his previous employer for his own financial gain”.
Following the hearing a police spokesman said: “Tomes put the lives of the two penguins at risk. Thankfully the man who bought the penguins contacted vets due to their poor condition and reported the incident to police, against the pleas of Tomes who offered to return the money.
“We will seek to prosecute those who exploit our most endangered wildlife for their own gain.”
Tomes was jailed for two years and eight months at Preston Crown Court.