Pet shop grandmother tagged for selling goldfish to 14-year-old

Two pet shop owners have been made to wear electronic tags and put on a curfew – after selling a goldfish to a child.

Great grandmother Joan Higgins was tagged for selling a goldfish to a 14-year-old

Great-grandmother Joan Higgins and her son, Mark, admitted selling the animal to a 14-year-old boy – an offence as he was not with an adult.

Speaking yesterday after the hearing, Mr Higgins, 47, said: ‘I think it’s a farce and legal lunacy and I told the council that. What gets me so cross is they put my mum on a tag – she’s nearly 70, for goodness sake.

‘Once it’s fitted, she’ll be on a curfew from 7pm to 7am until June.

‘She won’t be able to go out with her sister to bingo and she’s been bought tickets to see Rod Stewart so she won’t be able to go to that.

‘She’s a great-grandmother but she won’t be able to baby-sit her newborn great-grandson, all because of this tag.’

The shop, Major’s Pets in Sale, Greater Manchester, was investigated after a complaint that it sold a gerbil to a teenager with learning disabilities, who put the animal in a cup of coffee and killed it.

During the operation, an animal welfare officer noticed a cockatiel in the store, with a broken leg and eye problems, which later had to be put down.

At Trafford Magistrates’ Court, the pair admitted causing unnecessary suffering to the bird and selling an animal to a person under 16 unaccompanied by an adult.

Mrs Higgins said the cockatiel was not for sale but had not been quarantined as it should have been.

Iain Veitch, head of public protection at Trafford Council, said: ‘Let this conviction send out a message that we will not tolerate those who cause
unnecessary suffering to animals.’