Retired teacher’s illegal taxidermy collection raided by police after toy wolf in Zoopla photos spark suspicion

Butterflies, an alligator head, mummified rat, ducklings and Victorian house cat among carcasses seized by officers

Susan Tate plead guilty to possessing dead animals taken from the wild after a toy wolf (pictured) sparked a police raid (Lee McLean / SWNS)

A retired teacher whose illegal taxidermy collection caused police to raid her home with a BBC TV crew in tow has been fined after pleading guilty to possessing dead animals taken from the wild.

A toy wolf shown in photographs of her house on property website Zoopla initially aroused the suspicion of a potential buyer, who alerted the authorities.

This led a team of police to search Susan Tate’s home while Crimewatch videographers filmed – a scene described by the 57-year-old as “a circus”.

When they realised the 16-inch tall wolf was a toy, they turned their attention to Ms Tate’s taxidermy collection elsewhere in the house, seizing 20 stuffed animals and bones.

Police found several illegal carcasses and body parts, including an endangered porpoise skull she found on a beach, a stuffed Scottish wild cat she inherited from her mother, a blue butterfly and a red squirrel purchased via Ebay for £40.

The former biology teacher said she had no idea the items were illegal or that she needed a licence for her collection. She accepted a £224 fine, plus £650 costs.

Despite her guilty plea, she branded it “ridiculous” that police were granted a warrant to search her home because of the toy wolf.

Ms Tate, whose parents were police officers, criticised the police and BBC for their “heavy-handed” raid, saying she “was devastated by” the incident, which had caused her “a lot of harm”.

“I thought they were going to send me to jail and I was absolutely terrified,” she said. “My husband said there’s a film crew outside and we could not believe it.

“I realise that I have done something wrong but that was not justified. It was too far. I was accused on television and made to feel like I’d committed a serious crime.

“It was heavy-handed to have the BBC turn up. We live in a small village and it was turned into a circus.”

Ms Tate and her partner listed their home in Bryn Rhedyn, near Anglesey, Wales, online for sale via Zoopla in mid-2018.

Photographs of inside their house – featuring the 16-inch tall wolf – were posted with the online listing, and a house buyer reported the toy to police. Officers raided Ms Tate’s home on 5 February, seizing more than 20 items.

After initially pleading not guilty at a preliminary hearing, Susan admitted three counts of possessing of a dead animal which had been taken from the wild and one count of possessing a dead wild animal, in Caernarfon magistrates’ court on Friday.

She said she was “blindly oblivious” she was breaking the law.

The other 15 or so items – including butterflies, an alligator head, mummified rat, ducklings and Victorian house cat – were returned to Susan as legal items.

Additional reporting by SWNS