WORLD> Europe
Leopard removed from German family's home
(Agencies)
Updated: 2009-03-18 11:06

BERLIN  – A fully-grown female leopard that lived with a German family for 18 months will be moved to a new home after authorities said the owners held no licence to keep the animal in their residential neighbourhood.

The family in the town of Weyhe, in northern Germany, had built a 1,400-sq-metre leopard park without an official permit, local authorities said.

"Keeping a leopard in a residential area is simply not allowed in Germany," said Heinz-Juergen Greszik, spokesman for local authorities.

Germany's Tierschutzbund, an animal rights organisation, said wild animals should not be kept in private households.

"Why can't these people have a dog or a cat?" said Thomas Schroeder from the Tierschutzbund.

The animal will be moved to an appropriate home.