Originally Posted by Fixx

"Alligator alert as dumped pets survive in wild


By David Sapsted
Last Updated: 7:44pm BST 17/10/2004


Record numbers of exotic animals, many of them dangerous, are being abandoned by owners who cannot cope.
An animal rescue group said yesterday that a flood of dangerous reptiles was being brought into the country, often illegally, and that many were flourishing in the wild.
Iain Newby runs the Dangerous Wild Animal Rescue Facility (Dwarf), which has taken in 2,500 exotic animals since it was formed seven years ago.

He said venomous spiders, snakes, scorpions and even alligators were proving adept at surviving after being dumped.
He receives up to 15 calls a day to catch creatures or from people asking for help with pets they cannot handle.
Mr Newby, 37, who runs Dwarf with his girfriend, Lisa Tremble, 30, from their home in Great Wakering, Essex, said many people bought dangerous animals for the wrong reasons.
"They buy rottweiler dogs because it makes them look big," he said. "In the same way they buy alligators as status symbols."
Among the 200 creatures he keeps at his home is a cayman alligator called Cedric, which a teenage boy swapped for his two piranhas on the internet, thinking it was a lizard.
Last year he rescued five caymans that were being used for racing on an internet gambling site.
In the past year Dwarf has received calls to capture 20 poisonous black widow spiders that arrived in freight deliveries from America.
Mr Newby has also been called to catch a dwarf rattlesnake owned by an unlicensed keeper. The snake can launch itself off the ground in a strike that can prove fatal unless anti-venom is not administered immediately.
Although Mr Newby tries to find new owners for the rescued animals, he keeps about 200 at his home. They include alligators, iguanas, water dragons, a common buzzard, Burmese pythons, Californian king snakes and poisonous cane toads.
He said: "There should be a licensing system for dangerous animals so that owners can be educated and provided with care sheets and councils can track down the owners of escaped or dumped animals."
The RSPCA has called on the Government to introduce welfare controls for the trade in exotic pets to replace the outdated 1951 Pet Animals Act."



Right I have read the article, what's the problem Maureen?

Originally Posted by Chris Newman

Originally Posted by pam b

Yeah right.
Like thats very likely Chris!!!!