By Daily Mail Reporter
Last updated at 1:17 AM on 02nd February 2009

Hundreds of wild animals, from alligators to zebras, are being kept as pets in homes and gardens across Britain, a survey has found.

Exotic species registered to private owners include 704 wild boar, 268 ostriches, 267 snakes and 67 monkeys. The list also includes 57 lemurs, 36 camels, 36 scorpions, 30 crocodilians, including caimans, 23 big cats, five alligators and one zebra.

They were among the creatures registered with local councils under the Dangerous Wild Animals Act.
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Unusual pet choices: Lemurs are among the creatures registered to private owners

Owners need a licence to keep them under the Act and have to meet strict conditions to ensure the welfare of the animals and safety of neighbours.

Animal welfare officers believe the numbers known may be just the tip of the iceberg, with thousands more kept illegally.

In the past year, a deadly black widow spider was seized from an unlicensed address in Oxfordshire and three ostriches removed from a house in Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire.

Details of the animals licensed in the last year came from 87 local authorities under the Freedom of Information Act. They exclude zoos, pet shops, circuses and wildlife parks.

How Britons went wild to have an exotic pet | Mail Online