Australian antiques dealer fined after 700 frozen and taxidermied animals found on his property
A 74-year-old antiques store owner in Victoria, Australia, Glenn Rollo, has been fined A$10,000 for possessing and selling protected wildlife. More than 700 dead native animals were found on his property last year.
A court in the Australian state of Victoria on Tuesday fined 74-year-old antiques store owner Glenn Richard Rollo $10,000 after he pleaded guilty to 13 charges, including selling and possessing protected and threatened wildlife and failing to treat a sick animal. The case centres on a property in Kyneton and forms part of a wider crackdown on the illegal wildlife trade.
The search and what was found
The Conservation Regulator Victoria, the body that enforces wildlife protection rules in the state, searched the man's store and home in April last year. Officers found 14 freezers containing animals, along with hundreds of dead reptiles, native birds and mammals, including 78 emus, 42 brushtail possums and 26 echidnas. Remains of threatened species were also found, among them the barking owl, diamond python and Murray River short-necked turtle.
The property also held 15 live reptiles in enclosures, including North American red-eared slider turtles and corn snakes. The regulator said six were not kept according to required animal welfare standards. It added that the man had no licence or authorisation to obtain or possess the animals.
Laws and court remarks
Wildlife in Victoria is protected by the Wildlife Act 1975, which prohibits taking native animals without approval. Trading dead animals requires a commercial or private wildlife licence, and taxidermy also needs a licence from the regulator. Magistrate Patrick Southey reportedly told the man it was bewildering that someone of his intelligence, knowledge and love of wildlife would arrogantly flout the law so comprehensively.
Cal Heppell, the regulator's director of regulatory operations, said the scale of offending shows why strong protections exist, and that the requirements are not optional.
Criticism of the penalty
Georgie Purcell, a Victorian MP for the Animal Justice party, said the state's wildlife laws are not strong enough and urged the government to modernise the 50-year-old act. She described the $10,000 fine as barely a deterrent.
