CONVICTED (2023) | Brad Green, born 19 November 1998, of 33 Salterns Estate, Fareham PO16 0SE and Nathan Daniels, born January 2001, of 27 Alexander Grove, Fareham PO16 0TU – broke into a zoo, threw a bottle at a giraffe’s head and vandalised enclosures.
Nathan Daniels, who recently founded a company named Ripplesweets Ltd, cut the barbed wire fence at Marwell Zoo in Colden Common near Winchester. He and accomplice Brad Green then carried out the attack, leaving animals, including the giraffes, cheetahs and tigers “very distressed”.
Daniels pleaded guilty to damaging the penguins’ enclosure and a fence surrounding the zoo, while Green admitted damaging an enclosure containing the giraffes. Green also admitted an animal cruelty charge in relation to the giraffe, named Ursula. In her distress she had knocked herself against the door, sustaining two long gashes on her leg.
Charges against the pair’s friends Jason Huggitt, born c. 1998, and Coral Lock, born c. 1999, who were both present during the incident, were dropped. Huggitt had been charged with burglary with intent to commit criminal damage and causing unnecessary suffering to a protected animal. Lock had been charged with assisting an offender, as she drove the other three thugs away from the scene.
Video footage posted to Snapchat at the time of the break-in on February 15, 2021, showed a bottle being thrown at the head of a giraffe.
A tiger was also filmed apparently being encouraged to approach a fence before being kicking out at and scared away.
Multiple police units, including armed response officers with night vision goggles, a dog unit and a helicopter were dispatched to catch the intruders following the incident, amid fears endangered animals were at risk.
The heard the yobs had cut through a ‘double chain link fence’ before entering the premises.
Ellie Fargin, prosecuting, told the court the zoo’s exterior fence was cut so the pair could get into the grounds, while the doors of the giraffe and penguin enclosures were damaged.
Ms Fargin said the Snapchat video also showed the tiger in its enclosure.
The next morning, a plastic disinfectant bottle, sticks and stones were found in the tiger enclosure, while a bucket and another bottle of disinfectant were found in the giraffe enclosure, she said.
Ms Fargin said: “There is concern they had been thrown into the enclosure to cause distress as the tiger was behaving in a manner consistent with distress.
“Also, items were found in the cheetah enclosure.”
The injured giraffe was called Ursula, she said, while a door was found damaged with giraffe hair on it.
“The damage must have been caused by the giraffe or giraffes hitting it with force and that would have been done if they were in distress,” she said.
Ms Fargin said a life ring was found in the pool in the penguin enclosure and added: “The penguins displayed behaviour consistent with anxiety and distress from being disturbed.”
Daniel Reilly, defending Green, said to have attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, said his client has “deep regret and remorse” for his actions and threw the bottle at the giraffe “to get its attention”.
He said Green faced a “social media backlash” following the incident and got death threats.
Mr Reilly said: “He knows that what he did is something that is significantly serious and something he is shamed by, particularly because he is, at his very core, an animal lover.”
Graham Gilbert, defending Daniels, said: “The behaviour showed a marked lack of maturity on his behalf.”
He said his client has lost his job working for a contractor for Marwell Zoo.
Sentencing the pair the judge told them: “Almost two years ago, you two together had the idiotic idea of driving to Marwell Zoo during lockdown, when Marwell Zoo was closed to the public due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
“You, Green, broke a door at the rear of the giraffe house. You threw the bucket and bottle of disinfectant into the enclosure and you threw something at the giraffe which we see from the video that you took.
“It struck the giraffe on the neck. One of the giraffes had an injury to its leg, with two long gashes, which was discovered the next morning.
“It happened from the giraffe being distressed, knocking itself against the door.”
He added: “It caused a great deal of public outrage at your behaviour because people are rightly sensitive at behaviour causing damage to a zoo and to animals.
“You acted in a deplorable fashion for which you must be punished. Public outrage would be such that many members of the public would like to see you in prison for this behaviour.”
Sentencing | 12-month community order with 120 hours of unpaid work; £750 compensation each to the zoo.
Additional Information
In early 2019 Brad Green admitted dumping the badly mutilated body of a goat in a supermarket carpark but claimed the animal was already dead when he found it.
The discovery of the animal’s brutalised remains followed a series of similar incidents in which at least five dead goats were dumped in towns and villages across Hampshire.