THE GUARDIAN (London, UK) 13 January 05 Owner of 4ft cayman bit off more than he could chew (Martin Wainwright)
A lonely man who kept a cayman in his bath escaped a jail sentence for endangering the public yesterday after a judge decided that he was too stupid to have realised the lethal nature of his pet.
Anthony Quinn, who tried to sell the 1.2 metre (4ft) South American spectacled cayman from his car boot in a supermarket car park, was told he was lucky not have had his arms or other limbs bitten off.
"If it was not for the utter stupidity of your actions then I would have to think what happened was more sinister," said Sheriff Kenneth MacIver at Edinburgh sheriff court.
"The whole ridiculous set of circumstances came about as a result of complete and utter thoughtlessness on your part. The person most at risk throughout was yourself."
The court heard that Quinn, 54, an unemployed father of two, had tried to recreate a tiny patch of rainforest for the protected reptile in his home on the 15th floor of a tower block in Leith. He rigged up a heating apparatus which nearly electrocuted the cayman, and also had fantastical notions of keeping it - 70 razor sharp teeth and all - in an inflatable paddling pool in his living room as it grew towards its adult length of 2.4 metres.
The judge told him: "This is a very bizarre case and I have struggled to come up with an appropriate sentence."
The court heard that Quinn had bought the cayman on the internet for £250 under the impression that it was a foot long and would make for interesting company. His lawyer, Jim Stephenson, said the deal had been done at a Scottish motorway service station with a man known as Billy, who refused to take the reptile back when Quinn protested that it was four times bigger than expected.
PC Gavin Ross described a sting operation that caught Quinn after he readvertised the cayman for sale. He told the court that the reptile had been in a box in the boot of Quinn's Vauxhall Cavalier, "hissing and snapping away, and altogether not very happy".
Quinn, who had earlier pleaded guilty to keeping a dangerous wild animal, was banned for five years from keeping animals, apart from two pet birds which the sheriff acknowledged were important companions. The cayman has been taken into care by the Scottish Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, whose staff have renamed it Janet Street-Porter.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk_news/story/0,3604,1389210,00.html
DAILY RECORD (Glasgow, UK) 13 January 05 Alligator Man Gets Pet Ban
A man who kept an alligator in the bath in his 15th-floor flat was banned from having pets for five years yesterday. Sheriff Kenneth MacIver told 34-year-old Anthony Quinn the case was so bizarre he was almost stumped as to what to do.
He said: 'The ridiculous circumstances seem to have come about as a result of complete and utter thoughtlessness and, indeed, stupidity on your own part.'
The sheriff said only the cold temperature in Quinn's flat kept the 4ft spectacled caiman docile.
He told him: 'If it was kept in proper conditions, it would probably have bitten your arm off.
'Your failure to do things properly probably saved you.'
Edinburgh Sheriff Court heard how jobless father-of-two Quinn bought the reptile on the internet for £250, thinking it would only grow to around 12 inches.
But it quickly got too big for his flat in Leith and he tried to sell it.
Animal welfare officers spotted the ad and set up a 'sting'.
Quinn admitted keeping the caiman without a licence and causing it unnecessary suffering.
http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/tm_objectid=15069546&method=full&siteid=89488&headline=alligator-man-gets-pet-ban-name_page.html
