Tortoises 'not pets' claim council

News Archive > General > Tortoises 'not pets' claim council

Paul Williams09/06/2010

A small animal sanctuary in Sticker faces closure following a bizarre interpretation of animal legislation by Cornwall Council.
Joy Bloor’s Tortoise Garden, which has been home to abandoned, sick and unwanted Tortoises for the past 12 years, has been told by the new unitary authority that it must now apply for zoo status or they will take legal action to close it in less than a month.
Under the Zoo licensing Act 1981, collections of animals normally kept as domestic pets are exempt from the expensive regime of regulations and inspections required by zoos, but Cornwall Council has decided that one of Britain’s favourite pets of the last hundred years — the humble Tortoise — should be re-classified as a wild animal on a par with Lions, Tigers, Elephants and Giraffes, going against Government guidance that exempts ‘True domestic breeds, and selectively bred wild species, introduced to this country relatively recently, but now so commonly kept outside zoological collections as to justify regarding them as normally domesticated in Great Britain’.
DEFRA is happy to exempt  guinea pigs, hamsters, gerbils, chinchillas and koi carp, for example, from licensing, but Cornwall Council has decided that the tortoise is a ‘species not normally domesticated in Great Britain’ and therefore a wild animal.
Mrs Bloor is devastated and she is seeking expert advice and help. If the Council succeeds in reclassifying the premises, Mrs Bloor could face ruinous costs.
"I received a visit from a council official last year who arrived unannounced, telling me that I would require a Zoo license,” she said.
“I asked for further clarification but the officer, who never even entered the  sanctuary, stated that in her opinion the refuge was already a Zoo.
“This was despite the fact that the former authority, Restormel, had  visited regularly over a decade and had no problems with my operation as an ongoing single species sanctuary, not a zoo.
“The costs of running as a zoo could be in excess of £250,000 a year which for a tiny operation that runs on a shoestring like us is unachievable.
"The same officer arranged another meeting in February this year, where they simply refused to acknowledge anything that I said or my longstanding classification by the previous authority.
"I  told the council official that tortoises were domestic pets not wild animals but she was insistent. She stated that her definition of a domestic pet is a dog, cat or similar that can be housetrained. What about rats, mice, rabbits and even horses — it's a complete nonsense."
Currently, the sanctuary houses approximately 400 tortoises and accepts sick and injured animals from the RSPCA and other animal charities as well as Newquay Zoo.
Mrs Bloor isn't alone in her outrage; St Austell Town councillor Derek Hollins believes that it's a case of bureaucracy gone mad.
"This is a fantastic place that concentrates on educating people about Tortoises,:” he told the Voice. “It also accepts animals from other institutions as donations. For as long as I have known it has never been classified as a Zoo.
“According to Para 21 of the DEFRA Zoo Act, any animal normally domesticated within this country does not constitute a Zoo animal."
Mrs Bloor is also upset that the Council has already decided her shelter’s fate: "According to a notice I've just received from the Council, they already refer to my existing status as a Zoo. They have given me an unachievable deadline of July 1 to allow them to apply for an exemption notice on my behalf or they will obtain a Magistrates Order to close me down.
“The problem with this is that to apply for an exemption you have to admit that you are already a Zoo — I'm not.
“Also Exemption Notices are rarely granted anyway despite assurances by the Council."
Cornwall Council told the Voice: "The Tortoise Garden was inspected by Cornwall Council’s Public Health and Protection officers during a review of premises which could be classed as a zoo. 
“The Council’s public health and protection officers have sought advice from zoo experts and from the Council’s legal department on the status of the Tortoise Garden and have concluded that it does need a licence under the terms of the Zoo Licensing Act 1981.
"Cornwall Council has no choice in its duty to apply the Zoo Licensing Act 1981 to the Tortoise Garden.
"The Council has advised the owner that it will work with her and support an application for a dispensation from the Secretary of State which would mean that the Tortoise Garden is exempt from the need for a licence under the Zoo Licensing Act. While the Council fully supports a dispensation, there is no guarantee that this would be granted by the Secretary of State.
"If an exemption is not applied for then the Council has no option other than to insist that a licence application is submitted. If a licence application is not submitted then the Council will have no choice other than to issue a closure notice with leave to appeal to a magistrate’s court."
Last year, the Tortoise Garden hit national headlines when a thief stole a number of the exhibits that ended up being traced to a pet shop in Kent.