Mind my pet... lion: Crocs and an elephant also among animals kept in homes

Dangerous wild animals, from big cats to venomous snakes, are being kept as 'pets' in Britain, it has emerged.

Research by wildlife charity Born Free shows more than 2,200 animals classed as 'dangerous', including pit vipers, tigers and crocodiles, are being legally kept in homes and other private settings, as it called for an overhaul of the 50-year-old legislation surrounding them.

Some of the animals licensed to be kept under the Dangerous Wild Animals Act (DWAA) are in educational facilities, sanctuaries or even part of conservation projects – such as bison in large-scale enclosures in woodlands and countryside.

But many people are likely keeping dangerous, non-native creatures in private homes, Born Free said, potentially posing a risk to public safety and causing suffering to the animals themselves.

Actress Dame Joanna Lumley, Born Free's founder patron, called for a change in the law, saying: 'Wild animals should never ever be kept as pets, no matter how much we feel we could give them a wonderful home.

'Their lives should be in the wild.

'It is shocking that so many are still being legally kept in private hands, propping up a cruel and ghastly trade.'

Born Free also said that potentially many more dangerous wild animals are being held illegally.

The Dangerous Wild Animals Act was introduced in 1976 to control the private keeping of animals considered to pose a risk to the public.

Data obtained from local authorities, who are responsible for licences under the Act, show more than 500 venomous snakes are being kept privately across Britain.

There are also nearly 300 primates in private ownership, 79 crocodiles, alligators and caimans, and 166 wild cats including lions, pumas and tigers.

Among the animals being privately kept are alligators and gila monsters in Angus and cheetahs in Cheshire, while snakes including cobras, green mambas, rattlesnakes and boomslangs are being held around the country.

The number of venomous snakes has risen since the charity last researched DWAA data in 2023, up from 403 then to 512, while the number of dangerous primates is up from 256 in 2023 to 293 now.

Born Free also flagged what it said was a social media-fuelled craze to own small wild cats and hybrids, which are among the most frequently licensed species, even though later generation hybrids can fall outside licensing requirement while still having significant wild traits.

The charity's research found Scotland is home to the most licensed wild cat hybrids in Britain, while Carmarthenshire in Wales is home to the only elephant being kept under this kind of licence in the country, and the world's deadliest snake – the saw-scaled viper – is licensed to be kept in Greater London.

Chris Lewis, Born Free's captivity research and policy manager said: 'The Dangerous Wild Animals Act 1976 was intended to make the keeping of wild animals categorised as 'dangerous' a wholly exceptional circumstance.

'Yet 50 years on we find ourselves in a situation where nearly ten times more venomous snakes are kept in British homes than British zoos, servals continue to be unnecessarily and cruelly crossbred with domestic cats to produce "fashionable" hybrids, and primates continue to be confined despite the Government acknowledging they are unsuited to being kept as pets.'

A spokesperson for the Environment Department (Defra) said: 'Anyone wishing to keep an animal covered by the Dangerous Wild Animals Act must be carefully vetted and apply for a licence which sets out strict conditions under which the animals must be kept.'

The research follows a caged monkey being discovered on a London bus last week.

The terrified common marmoset was discovered last Friday at 11.43am on the 302 bus, travelling between Mill Hill Broadway Station and Kensal Rise.

The driver had pushed the laundry bag out of the way for a mother and her pram, only for the bag to start 'chirping and jumping around'.

It was then that the driver peered behind the bag and discovered the tiny monkey quivering inside the cage.

Although it was given a clean bill of health, its abandonment is feared to be part of a wider trend due to a change in law in April stating all primates kept in England must be licensed.