# Zoo and licences?



## bampoisongirl (Mar 28, 2008)

Hi i was just wondering do zoos have to have one big licence or do they have a DWA for every animal? In particular relating to hyenas  Thanks xx


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## mEOw (Dec 28, 2006)

they have whats called a zoo license....


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## xyra (Apr 26, 2007)

mEOw said:


> they have whats called a zoo license....


Which has been said in another thread is all to do with the public and not the animals...but does it also allow the animals like a PSL?


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## mEOw (Dec 28, 2006)

haven't read the other thread but it is basically the same as a dwa, dwa is nothing to do with the animals either it is entirley to keep the public safe..
it does indeed cover the zoo to keep dwa animals if thats what your asking?


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## Athravan (Dec 28, 2006)

A zoo license is the equivalent of the pet shop license - it allows the zoo to keep the animals as well as having extra things like health and safety incorporated into it. 

A zoo license is needed if an establishment exhibits animals to the general public on more than 7 consecutive days in a 12 month period. Pet shops are exempt as far as I'm aware.

It's still obtained from the local council following guidelines from The Zoo Licensing Act 1981 (updated 2002)

There is a document called "the Secretary of State's Standards of Modern Zoo Practice" and this is usually the guidelines that the council will take for assessing the zoo's standards and ability to look after animals - just like a pet shop, standard things such as food and water, suitable habitat and correct health - but also things that pet shops don't explicity require, the ability to express the most normal behaviour (ie enrichment), and protection from fear and distress (so for example, mandatory places where an animal can hide if it wants to get away from people staring at it all day).

A zoo also has to show it's participation in conservation measures, research into the animals, diet and breeding, etc. and a much higher level of staff training to a pet shop. Public education must be demonstrated and high levels of records have to be kept compared to almost no records required by a pet shop.

Zoo inspectors as far as I'm aware are appointed by the secretary and not by the council - although council inspectors can also inspect, but this means that zoo inspectors are generally more experienced/educated than a licensing officer, and the zoo inspector may also be a vet inspector, or they may also take the council's vet inspector with them, a zoo also should get a mandatory environmental health & safety officer visit once a year - which pet shops don't get.

So basically, I've gone off on a tangent but a zoo has one license which covers all the animals, both DWA and non DWA - but have a set of conditions they must adhere to which are generally strictor and more education, conservation and public orientated than the PSL


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## xyra (Apr 26, 2007)

Thanks guys, that clears it up!

Edit; another thought: Would then say a cattery which takes cats in for holidays any day of the week (and therefore have owners turning up to a place holding lots of animals on 7 consecutive days) need a zoo licence?


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## mEOw (Dec 28, 2006)

unfortunatley in reality the zoo inspectors are pretty useless...
interestingly enough if a zoo wants to be able to sell animals to the public (like rabbits, etc) they need a PSL aswell as a zoo license....


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## Athravan (Dec 28, 2006)

xyra said:


> Thanks guys, that clears it up!
> 
> Edit; another thought: Would then say a cattery which takes cats in for holidays any day of the week (and therefore have owners turning up to a place holding lots of animals on 7 consecutive days) need a zoo licence?


A cattery needs a boarding license - all kennels and animal boarding facilities such as catteries require a boarding license which is totally different - these animals are not on public display/exhibit (zoo), and are not for sale (pet shop), they are being looked after. a boarding license has to show that the conditions that animals are kept in are adequate and that they are cared for in appropriate manner. There is however no provision for reptile boarding licenses at the moment.

The 7 day part is important to note that it - on display to the public for 7 days. People don't take their kids to the cattery to look at all the pretty cats - they wouldn't be allowed in. Accomodation is temporary so enclosures can be small and bare - providing the basics, enrichment is not important over non permanent periods, stress levels should be lower as the animals are only being visited by staff, not by hundreds of public a day, and these are domestic, not wild/exotic animals so require very basic food/water/care requirements.

It is still a license obtained from the council but again, a BL is totally seperate to the PSL or the ZL.


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## xyra (Apr 26, 2007)

Athravan said:


> A cattery needs a boarding license - all kennels and animal boarding facilities such as catteries require a boarding license which is totally different - these animals are not on public display/exhibit (zoo), and are not for sale (pet shop), they are being looked after. a boarding license has to show that the conditions that animals are kept in are adequate and that they are cared for in appropriate manner. There is however no provision for reptile boarding licenses at the moment.
> 
> The 7 day part is important to note that it - on display to the public for 7 days. People don't take their kids to the cattery to look at all the pretty cats - they wouldn't be allowed in. Accomodation is temporary so enclosures can be small and bare - providing the basics, enrichment is not important over non permanent periods, stress levels should be lower as the animals are only being visited by staff, not by hundreds of public a day, and these are domestic, not wild/exotic animals so require very basic food/water/care requirements.
> 
> It is still a license obtained from the council but again, a BL is totally seperate to the PSL or the ZL.



Fair enough. Plenty of people take their kids to fish & reptile shops just to look at the animals though - must to the owners frustration probably


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## Athravan (Dec 28, 2006)

xyra said:


> Fair enough. Plenty of people take their kids to fish & reptile shops just to look at the animals though - must to the owners frustration probably


And if they ever decided to charge entry... they'd then be proving animals were on display I think  You can really stop customers from "browsing" though. Animals under the PSL get the rawest end of the deal really as no provisions against the stress of the environment, small temporary vivs, mixing species inappropriately or overcrowding, requirements for hides, etc. are made unfortunately


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## xyra (Apr 26, 2007)

Athravan said:


> And if they ever decided to charge entry... they'd then be proving animals were on display I think  You can really stop customers from "browsing" though. Animals under the PSL get the rawest end of the deal really as no provisions against the stress of the environment, small temporary vivs, mixing species inappropriately or overcrowding, requirements for hides, etc. are made unfortunately


Whenever I go to a reptile/fish shop I always end up spending money, so as far as I'm concerned they are charging entry <grin> 

it would be nice if the PSL covered long term tennents seperatly though...some places have animals in for months or even years before they sell for particularly expensive/unusual specimens and are sometimes kept in less than ideal conditions...


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## bampoisongirl (Mar 28, 2008)

Thanks very much for the info guys  XX


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## trigger (Jan 6, 2009)

mEOw said:


> unfortunatley in reality the zoo inspectors are pretty useless...
> interestingly enough if a zoo wants to be able to sell animals to the public (like rabbits, etc) they need a PSL aswell as a zoo license....


 
I don't want to be rude, but over the years we have had several zoo inspectors, and none of them have been useless, we may be the exception though. One of them was the chairman of the zoo fed. Although a lot of it is about paper work and the public, they are throughr when it comes to the animals, again that might just be the ones we have had. You can get dispensations, depending on what you keep, but a zoo, with DWAs has a DEFRA ap[ointed inspector, a council aionspector and a health and safty inspector to carry out the inspection. I don't know anything about PSL but the zoo licence is granted for 6 years, with a formal inspection every 3 years and other inspections whenever they feel like it. Oh, and its bloomin expensive!


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