ABERDEEN is the home of more dangerous pets than any other city or major town in the UK, a new study has shown.
Money.co.uk has discovered that the city council has issued licences for 106 “dangerous animals” as defined in the 1976 Dangerous Wild Animals Act – nearly 10 times as many licences as the next biggest council area, which is Islington in London with 17 such licences.
The Granite City is also home to the Scottish version of Joe Exotic, the star of Netflix series Tiger King.
You may remember Exotic, who kept more than 50 species of endangered and exotic animals at his park, including big cats.
There are no such cats kept in Aberdeen homes, but the fascinating research discovered the small animal equivalent of Exotic and also explained just why Aberdeen has so many licences. For one resident alone accounts for 100 of the 106 licences, and they are all for one collection of 100 Buthidae scorpions. Their sting is particularly nasty and can cause death in humans if not treated properly and promptly.
The research was carried out by money.co.uk and it found that Aberdeen was also home to one monocled cobra, also called the Indian spitting cobra, and a Western Diamondback Rattlesnake.
Money.co.uk stated: “Of the councils which responded to us, the most commonly held animals were scorpions, with 107 applications across the country. It also appears that Brits have a thing for snakes, with 40 licenses for various species of the cold-blooded reptiles.”
The research only covered the past five years which makes us wonder what happened to the two caimans, two American alligators, two Nile crocodiles, two dwarf crocodiles, two rattlesnakes, two cobras, seven vipers, and five Gila monsters all licensed by North Lanarkshire Council prior to 2016.
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