Two Perth women pleaded guilty in court recently to stealing a mongoose from Perth Zoo (Perth Zoo), fined thousands of Australian dollars and going to jail for months to reflect on their mistakes.
When 23-year-old Aimee Cummins and Jesse Ray Hooker went to the Perth Zoo on September 19 last year, they immediately fell in love with the cute little weasel baby through thick protective glass when they saw the baby weasel. Trying to steal it home as a pet.
After doing nothing, they put the stolen baby weasel in a thermos bag, while turning the music of the mobile phone loud enough to cover up the weeping of the meerkat. They took the weasel to McDonald`s to confirm his condition, and then brought him home.
Cummins keeps a mongoose in his room and lives with four dogs and a cat. Only two days later, the police found them.
After the trial, Hooker pleaded guilty to theft and was fined 4000 Australian dollars plus 205 Australian dollars in legal fees.
In court yesterday, Cummins pleaded guilty and sent her baby meerkat back to the zoo. Cummins lawyers said she had been mentally ill and had been on medication for years and had been out of work for a long time. She never thought of selling the weasel, and when she saw news of her theft on the Internet, she tried to smuggle it back to the zoo, but the police got there first.
The judge held that although she had no criminal record, stealing wild animals was a felony and sentenced her to seven months in prison and a suspended sentence of one year. The baby has been safely taken back to Perth Zoo.
