03 July 2000

RSPCA prosecutes pet shop owner

A Manchester pet shop owner has been banned for life from holding a pet shop licence, after he went on holiday and left a schoolboy to look after nearly 150 animals. Robert Ralphson, 42, of Warrington, Cheshire owner of Pets Corner, Queen Street, Leigh, Greater Manchester pleaded guilty to four charges of causing and permitting unnecessary suffering to a capuchin monkey and an iguana. He was also banned for ten years from having custody of any animal, ordered to carry out 240 hours community service and pay costs of £600. For more on this story got to: RSPCA