ALL manner of exotic animals have been slithering into the RSPCA's Stubbington Ark animal sanctuary lately.

Over the last year, staff at the Ranvilles Lane centre have looked after everything cold-blooded from iguanas and snakes, to lizards and terrapins.

And in August, animal welfare assistants - more accustomed to dealing with domestic pets - even had to deal with a Californian king snake found in a Hampshire garden before handing it over to a local reptile and amphibian society.

Now, the ongoing surge in the number of abandoned exotic animals has this week led the RSPCA to call on councils across the South to drastically tighten up pet trade controls.

Mike Ward, manager of the Ark near Fareham, backed the call: "Even though we are a centre which essentially rehomes domestic pets, we are looking after more and more exotic animals and they seem to be coming in for two reasons.

"People are buying reptiles and handing them over to us because they cannot cope. This suggests they are buying these animals for their novelty value with no real thought for their complex needs.

"Secondly, we are also seeing a lot of stray snakes which have been collected by RSPCA inspectors and Animal Collection Officers.

"Whether these are strays, escaped or abandoned animals it is difficult to know. If they are being looked after correctly snakes are not the sort of creatures that will just end up in people's gardens."

Between October 1998 and 1999 the number of neglect and cruelty convictions involving exotic animals rose from 58 to 126, and examples of unwanted exotics found in the streets around the country this summer alone include royal pythons, a snapping turtle, iguanas and bearded dragons.

The RSPCA is urging every local authority to toughen up its pet shop licences by insisting on a range of measures, including an animal veterinary inspection for each shop and a ban on one-day licences for pet fairs.

The society also believes that written welfare information should be provided with all animals sold, and that no pets should be sold to unaccompanied children under 16 years of age.

RSPCA chief veterinary officer Chris Laurence said: "The RSPCA is deeply concerned about the pet trade and has particular concerns about the sale of exotic animals.

"Our message is quite simple - we do not believe exotic animals make suitable pets."

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