Mercy for couple who traded endangered species on eBay

Graham and Norah Pitchforth ran a legitimate business, called Get The Bug, on the internet auction site, selling specimens of animals they had imported or acquired.

They each pleaded guilty earlier this year to 24 charges relating to the importing, exporting, selling and possession of endangered species after failing to get necessary documentation.

Animal specimens included in the charges included a stuffed lion cub and birds of prey, monkey skulls, flying fox skulls, butterflies, snake skulls and the skin and skull of a penguin. Many were classed as some of the most critically endangered species in the world.

At Leeds Crown Court today, the pair were sentenced to 44 weeks' imprisonment, suspended for 18 months. They were also ordered to carry out 200 hours of unpaid work.

The court was told the couple, of Southfield Close, Wrenthorpe, Wakefield, had run a pet shop for 20 years and were "extremely well-thought-of" in the local community.

Graham Pitchforth, 61, had an interest in collecting specimens and taxidermy and had a part-time job lecturing students at Wakefield College about endangered animals.

The pair set up the eBay shop and sold 3,637 animal specimens - of which 22 were found to have been traded illegally between October 2005 and December 2006, making a profit of 2,329.16.

The court heard the couple failed to get the relevant permits for the importation, exportation or sale of these 22 transactions, despite knowing they were needed.

Sentencing, Judge Christopher Batty told them: "You fall to be sentenced for 22 transactions made in the full knowledge you were not entitled to make them. You did and knew you did not have the necessary authorisation so to do.

"Much of your business was legitimate and as such it is clear that you had the relevant knowledge and expertise to deal legitimately in the trade of endangered species."

Judge Batty said Norah Pitchforth, 65, received a police caution in July 2005 for offering a barn owl for sale without the appropriate permit.

The court also heard the couple sometimes labelled packages as other items, such as "table decorations", to avoid suspicion and on one occasion agreed with a seller to claim a stuffed snowy owl was a gift when he had actually paid 150 for the item.

On other occasions, the couple were told that some skulls required certificates but continued without and a consignment of hornbill casks exported to the United States was seized for not having proper documentation.

Some transactions were arranged by email, which the couple sometimes asked to be destroyed following the sale.

The couple held hands and Norah Pitchforth repeatedly wiped her eyes as Judge Batty told them he would suspend their sentences, despite the serious nature of the crimes.

He said: "I have thought long and hard today about what to do with you. This was a deliberate flouting of the regulations for commercial gain."

The pair admitted 12 counts of illegally exporting, three of illegally importing, seven of illegally selling and two of illegally possessing specimens under the Customs and Excise Management Act.

The species involved in the charges included: sparrowhawk, little owl, tawny owl, buzzard, spotted eagle owl, pale chanting goshawk, baboon, European porcupine, crab-eating macaque monkey, pig-tailed macaque monkey, scarlet ibis, chacma baboon, python, barn owl, African penguin, Yemen chameleon, yellow-billed kite, African lion cub, otter, giant tree shrew, blue and gold macaw, rhinoceros hornbill, snowy owl, kestrel, Malaysian flying fox and various butterflies.