Big cat park owner banned from keeping animals

A big cat sanctuary owner has been banned from keeping animals for five years after being convicted of multiple animal welfare charges.

Terrence Moore, 78, director of the Cat Survival Trust in Welwyn, Hertfordshire, was found guilty of four charges of causing unnecessary suffering to an animal, at St Albans Crown Court in May.

He was banned from keeping animals, but it was suspended while efforts were made to rehome the remaining 28 animals.

A later hearing was adjourned after he was injured at the site in November, but the ban was formalised at the court on Thursday.

Moore was also found guilty of seven charges of using an animal species for commercial gain without a licence.

He was cleared of eight charges of causing unnecessary suffering of an animal and four of using an animal species for commercial gain without a licence.

The judge, recorder David Mayall, said he would order him also to pay fines totalling £10,000.

The four animals he was prosecuted for were a male European wildcat, called Hamish, that had come from a zoo in Paris, a female Bengal cat named Jasmine, a jungle cat called Lily and an unnamed Caracal cat.

Hertfordshire Police said it worked with North Herts Council, Hertfordshire Zoo, and its sister site The Big Cat Sanctuary in Ashford, Kent, to vaccinate, feed, clean, and care for the 28 animals at Moore's site. Five had to be euthanised.

The remaining 23 have all been rehomed, including an Asian golden cat called Frank, a fishing cat called Boson, who both now live at The Big Cat Sanctuary and Freddie, a Eurasian lynx who is now at Shepreth Wildlife Park, Cambridgeshire.

Moore started the sanctuary, which is now closed, in the 1970s with his wife.

It was not a zoo, and not open to the general public, but if someone became a member of the trust, they could access the site.

Police said that Moore had not had a vet visit the site in years, and a homeopathic product was used to treat some of his animals.

Food preparation, storage and disposal did not appear to be carried out hygienically and the housing of the animals was inadequate and in some cases insecure.

"Several animals were suffering from diseases for which Moore had not sought any veterinary care," the force said.

In total, officers seized about 26 carcasses from freezers that were used to store animals for long periods of time when they should have been cremated.

Det Con Beth Talbot, who led the investigation, said: "Terrence Moore knew how endangered these species were, understood their vulnerability to exploitation and should have been there to protect them.

"However, several animals at the site were in a sorry state and suffered at the hands of a man who should have looked after them."

Jan Muller, from the Crown Prosecution Service, said Moore's actions led to animals to "suffer unnecessarily".

"These animals were forced to live in squalor and Moore neglected them to such an extent that some died from illnesses that could have been treated," she said.

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