Man sentenced for running multi-million-pound exotic pet business after hundreds of animals found in squalid conditions
A Shropshire man who was involved in an illegal exotic pet ring and made hundreds of thousands of pounds selling tortoises, lizards and other animals around the world has been sentenced for animal cruelty offences.
Nearly 2,000 animals were found in squalid conditions as part of investigations into the operation run by David Johnson, aged 37, formerly of Wrockwardine, near Wellington.
Shrewsbury Crown Court heard that Johnson was one of four people involved in the exotic pet ring, which also included his former partner, Tara Janine Watt, aged 36, who was sentenced to 12 weeks in prison, suspended for 18 months, earlier this year for her part in the scheme.
The court was told on Thursday (September 25) that the illegal pet business was uncovered after several addresses were raided in Shropshire in September 2020 by police and RSPCA officers.
At Johnson's home address, they found a container of 15 quails, which were restricted in a box where they could not fully stand up and had no water or clean food.
A juvenile monitor lizard was also discovered in a small plastic box with no food or water, and in conditions which were too cold for the species, as was a bantam chicken.
Officers then found three banana boxes, containing a total of 73 Hermann's tortoises, at Senorita Sparkles, a beauty business Johnson's partner ran in Newport.
