The co-owner of a popular former Fife tourist attraction has been charged with a string of alleged animal neglect and licensing offences.
Peter Lockhart is accused of not providing a suitable, clean and ventilated environment at Fife Animal Park and failing to protect animals there from “injury, suffering and disease”.
The 50-year-old is also accused of causing unnecessary suffering to an emu by failing to provide treatment for ulceration of its beak.
Lockhart faces a total of 16 charges dating from June 27 2010 to February 14 this year relating to Fife Animal Park, near Cupar.
He was not present at a Dundee Sheriff Court hearing on Friday and the case was continued without plea until later this month.
Court papers allege that Lockhart, “being a person responsible for an animal, namely those fishes, reptiles, birds, mammals, primates and rodents”, failed to provide a “suitable, clean and ventilated environment of an adequate size with cover and bedding” between January 2013 and February 14 this year.
The charge further alleges that Lockhart failed to provide a suitable, balanced and varied diet and that he failed to provide “adequate treatment for conditions from which said animals were suffering”.
A second charge alleges that he failed to provide “sufficient accessible nutrition” for two Hermann’s tortoises between the same dates.
A third charge alleges that Lockhart failed to provide treatment to an emu and that he failed to provide the bird with “varied nutrition, a suitable environment or exposure to external stimuli”.
Lockhart, of Newton of Falkland, is also accused of a number of breaches of council regulations by allegedly displaying animals without a certificate of authority between June 2010 and February this year.
The case called before Sheriff Charles McNair. Solicitor Amy Fox asked that the case be continued without plea and a further hearing was fixed for September 26.
Fife Animal Park closed to the public in February. The 10-acre park housed 76 species including a zebra, Shetland ponies, meerkats, raccoons and owls.
The park was put up for sale in 2013, but this was blocked by the charity regulator, as it wanted to clarify which animals were owned by the Fife Animal Trust.
Shortly after its closure, Fife Council’s protective services senior manager Roy Stewart said: “The welfare of the animals at Fife Animal Park is our primary concern at this time.
“Although Fife Council doesn’t own the park or the animals it has a duty to protect them and legally they are now in our care.”