Plumber kept mini zoo in caravan

A man who tried to sell endangered lemurs over the internet was found to be living in a caravan packed full of exotic wild animals. Shocked officers discovered crocodiles, monkeys and snakes during a raid on the static caravan on a farm on the outskirts of Perth.

Police and officers from the Scottish Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SSPCA) discovered a mini zoo of live animals in the caravan. Plumber Keith Colthart, 24, admitted trying to sell two protected animals by placing an advert for them on a website.



The ring-tailed lemurs were found in the caravan, along with three African dwarf crocodiles, monkeys, a spectacled cayman and nine snakes, including pythons and boa constrictors. Colthart, from Wishaw, now faces being fined up to £10,000 or being sent to prison for a maximum of three months at Perth Sheriff Court.

He admitted a charge of trying to sell two ring-tailed lemurs through the Ad Trader website on 30 December last year from his then home at Gloagburn Farm, Tibbermore, by Perth. Sheriff Robert McCreadie said: "It is difficult to evaluate the seriousness of the issue unless I know a little bit more, like how highly endangered the lemurs are. I feel I would need to know a bit more about that before I could reach a view on sentence."