"Something moved in the garage when I was in there helping the guy lift [the furniture]," she said. "It was a racoon in an incredibly small cage. It was wet. It was filthy. It was skinny, aggressive."
When the man kicked the cage, McKenna asked what was going on. "He said: 'Oh, my stupid wife got it when it was eight weeks old for the kids - it is aggressive, we don't know what to do with it'.
So I said: 'Right. I'll take that with the furniture'." The incident, in late 2009, marked the beginning of Wildside Exotic Rescue - a centre near Ross-on-Wye in Herefordshire that houses animals from meerkats to mountain lions, mostly from British homes.
Keeping such animals is not illegal - the Dangerous Wild Animals (DWA) Act 1976 permits private ownership with a licence from the council. But experts, charities and some owners are concerned that the act is failing the animals it is designed to protect.
Diese Geschichte stammt aus der April 27, 2024-Ausgabe von The Guardian.
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Diese Geschichte stammt aus der April 27, 2024-Ausgabe von The Guardian.
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