Just been reading the posts about the police etc and its not actually up to them to prosecute with regards to illegaly keeping DWA listed animals. The environment agency are the people that would have to put forward the evidence and a case to the police to prosicute. The police wouldn't be the first authority to get involved. Just thought i'd throw that in the mix.

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1.0.0 Royal Python 07 - 0.1.0 Burmese Python 08
1.0.0 Cali King 07 - 1.1.0 Common Boa 07 & 06
2 Beardies and 3 Leopard Gecks, 1 Tokay Gecko, 1 Bosc Monitor
0.1.0 Pterinochilus murinus, 0.1.0 Ceratogyrus brachycephalus, 0.1.0 Grammastola rosea, 0.1.0 Psalmopoeus cambridgei,
0.1.0 Poecilotheria regalis, 0.1.0 Heteroscodra maculata, 0.1.0 Pterinochilus lugardi, 0.1.0 Psalmopoeus irminia, 0.1.0 Poecilotheria ornata,
SLINGS all 0.0.1 Avicularia sp. amazonica, Avicularia versicolor, Haplopelma lividum, Nhandu chromatus, Euathlus sp. "Blue", Ephebopus cyanognathus, Poecilotheria striata,
Poecilotheria rufilata, Poecilotheria fasciata, Chromatopelma cyaneopubescens, Stropmatpelma calceata, Phlogiellus sp. "pq118"

I know of one case where a private snake keeper had a friend call around who brought another new friend along.... that third party saw two illegally held snakes (vipers) and then reported the keeper.....
The person making the report did not know what type of viper they where (he thought they might be White Lipped Tree Vipers). Even with this scant information a team was put together comprising the local council, police and a venomous snake specialist who travelled over 250 miles up to Scotland the day before.

The lady of the house seemed to take a rather long time to get dressed and come downstairs....the upstairs reptile room was searched and nothing was found..... but the lady of the house seemed to be hovering near the bedroom...... a look under the bed revealed a plastic box with a pair of Atheris inside....... yes it probably only took the lady 10 seconds to dash into the bedroom and hide those snakes but the Policeman had read her body language and knew she was hiding something.

If a person calls the Police they may tell them to contact the Local Council as they are normally responsible for dealing with DWA issues. The local authorities may then ask and pay for the police assistance, vet attendance fees and specialist help which may amount to thousands of pounds. Think about it, the local council hear that someone is keeping dangerous animals on their patch, of course they are going to investigate, it human nature and probably more interesting/exciting than raiding the Sunday market for pirate DVD’s

Times have changed, with far more people using forums, u-tube, facebook etc. It is probably easier than ever to investigate what people are up to.

I’m just trying to illustrate the time, effort and expense local authorities are prepared to go to in dealing with illegally held dangerous animals.

Lets not forget the original post is wanting to report someone for keeping a dangerous scorpion at the end of the day its far too easy to import these scorpions from europe and that is what needs sorting regarding ilegal keeping of DWA inverts.

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The DWAA is one of those rare Acts of Parliament in which councils have primacy to deal with. I will double check however as far as I am aware, this is an Act which the local authority have a responsibility to enforce, not the police. I am aware however, that the preferred option in any illegal collections is for the owner to surrender the animal/s.

If someone did not want to pay extorionate fees for a DWAL could they not just cut corners by getting a Pet Shop Licence? the fees are not quite so bad for this.

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do pet shops not need a DWA to sell DWA animals?

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No they can keep and sell DWA under the Pet Shop Licence although not everyones terms will be the same.

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actually, you can only keep dwa on a pet shop licence if the pet shop licence has a dwa entitlement on it. some PSL's have, some don't. for example, Horsham district council offer a PSL with a dwa entitlement on it for £73.50 per annum, but next door in adur district, a psl will cost £67 with no dwa entitlement on it. If you wish to have a dwa entitlement in adur it has to be a seperate DWAL which will cost you;

Vertebrates – 1

Each additional species 30.80 Non-Business

PER YEAR!

Its disgusting! When I asked them why its so expensive, they replied "we don't know why and no we will not alter the price."

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WEST SUSSEX

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My lovely Ts0.1.0 Brachypelma smithi 0.0.4 Lampropelma sp. "Violaceopes"0.1.0 Bonnetina rudloffi0.0.1 Acanthoscurria geniculata0.0.1 P.ornata