The woman saving wild pets from danger in UK homes

Lindsay McKenna said she wanted to see the law made tougher around people keeping wild animals as pets

A woman who has rescued hundreds of wild animals including zebras, lions and monkeys from homes in the UK is calling for more stringent controls around people keeping them as pets.

Lindsay McKenna, owner of Wildside Exotic Rescue in Herefordshire, has been saving non-native wild animals for 15 years.

"These animals come from back gardens, cages, they come from awful scenarios," explained Ms McKenna.

A spokesperson for the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) said the current legislation was under regular review and those wishing to keep non-native animals would be carefully vetted and need a licence.

Ms McKenna, who funds the farm herself, began taking in wild animals after returning from conservation work in South Africa.

After arriving back in the UK, she discovered a racoon living in someone's garage and Wildside Exotic Rescue was born when she decided to take it home.

The site currently cares for almost 200 animals including mountain lions, zebra, racoons and monkeys.

Some were donated by owners who could no longer look after them, while others had been seized by police and local authorities.

Almost 200 animals live at Wildside Exotic Rescue in Herefordshire after they were rescued from sites across the UK

It is currently legal to keep wild animals as pets, even those considered dangerous, under the Dangerous Wild Animals Act 1976.

The legislation requires owners of such dangerous animals to get a licence from their local authority.

Licences are granted based several criteria including safety and where the animal will be kept.

But Ms McKenna told the BBC: "Very few [wild animals] need a licence and it is those that are deemed dangerous that do need one and the rest do not.

"So out of the 38 species here, only six require me to have a licence and be inspected.

"The rest, I could do what I like with them - I could abuse them, be cruel to them or be great with them."

Wildside Exotic Rescue had four mountain lions and four other species of wild cats, Ms McKenna said

The current legislation largely focuses on animals deemed dangerous.

This includes many primates, carnivores, larger or venomous reptiles, dangerous spiders and scorpions.

But Ms McKenna argued this was wrong and every non-native wild animal - regardless of whether it was dangerous or not - should require a licence with regular inspections.

Ms McKenna said every non-native wild animal kept in the UK should require a licence with regular inspections

The animal campaigner also claimed the act was "mandating cruelty".

"We want to put an end to the wild pet trade," she explained.

"At the moment it is possible [to own a wild animal] because it is legal. There are very few animals a UK home owner cannot get their hands on.

"If you fancy an animal, you just bring it home and pop it in your back garden. It is a stupid and as cruel as that."

A Defra spokesperson said steps have been taken to increase the maximum prison sentence for animal cruelty to five years and legislation had been brought forward to prohibit primates being kept as domestic pets.

Follow BBC West Midlands on Facebook, X, and Instagram. Send your story ideas to: [e-mail]