A RAYMOND Terrace man has been fined and received a criminal conviction for keeping an African pygmy hedgehog.
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The animal is prohibited in Australia due to its potential to introduce exotic diseases and the possibility of becoming an invasive pest.
The 23-year-old man appeared in Raymond Terrace Local Court last week, charged with keeping an animal belonging to a higher risk category without a licence under the Non-Indigenous Animals Act 1987.
The Department of Primary Industries (DPI) investigated claims the man was keeping a hedgehog in a cage hidden in a cupboard in his Raymond Terrace house in Howell Circuit.
The tip-off led to the animal being seized in January 2013.
The man entered a guilty plea in court. He was fined $770 and received a criminal conviction for being in possession of the animal.
According to DPI director of biosecurity compliance, Dr Andrew Sanger, the man claimed that he had got the animal from a friend who found it thinking it was an echidna.
The magistrate did not accept this argument.
"Hedgehogs also have the potential to seriously damage the Australian economy due to their propensity to harbour exotic animal diseases such as foot and mouth disease," Dr Sanger said.
"As a pest species they cause damage to native species including insects, snails, lizards and ground-nesting birds, particularly shore birds.
"Other endemic diseases carried by hedgehogs including salmonella, Q fever and toxoplasmosis, which can all be transmitted to humans."