WOULD-BE pet owners in East Lancashire are being urged to think twice before taking on exotic animals in a bid to halt the rising number of cruelty cases.

A craze for pets, such as iguanas, snakes, scorpions and crocodiles, has led the RSPCA to launch a campaign about the problems of keeping them.

Owners have been abandoning pets because they get bored or do not know how to look after them.

The RSPCA has found many pet shops do not provide information to potential buyers about what is involved and the dangers.

RSPCA Chief Inspector for Lancashire Brian Jefferies said: "People go into pet shops, buy an iguana, but fail to find out that it will grow to six feet and have a huge lashing tail.

"If you buy a pot plant you first read the instructions about caring for it, but people don't do the same for these pets. They need to find out what size it will grow to, how long it will live and how much living space is needed.

"The health implications for the pet and owners are also important. Some of the animals recovered have been lethal and people have put themselves at risk."

The RSPCA nationally takes in hundreds of abandoned exotic pets each year and can prosecute owners and pet shop owners for cruelty and neglect. An Accrington pet shopkeeper was given a two year conditional discharge after a post office worker at a sorting office discovered a dead lizard in a damaged parcel sent by ordinary post. Imran Butt admitted he received the lizard from a wholesaler and had sent it back through the post because it was sick.

He claimed he was unaware of the correct way to transport a lizard.

Butt pleaded guilty to two cruelty charges at Hyndburn magistrates' court and was ordered to pay £1,129.94 in costs.

The trend for exotic pets has increased in recent years. Mr Jefferies said: "We are going through a craze at the moment for these type of pets. The most popular are snakes and lizards.

"Although there have only been a few prosecutions in East Lancashire, we are getting more and more cases reported."

Among the typical cases reported have been snakes with serious burns because the wrong heating equipment was used in their tanks.

Lizards have suffered crippling bone diseases after being fed on the wrong diet.

Mr Jefferies added that many of the animals died before they even got to this country

Only 50 out of every 2,000 survived the ordeal of transportation from abroad.

A leaflet about coping with exotic pets is available from the Enquiries Service, RSPCA HQ, The Causeway, Horsham, West Sussex RH12 1HG.

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