THE OWNER of a popular Forest animal park has claimed his business could face irreversible damage after a critical vet’s report was published.

Chris Turney, who runs the Dick Whittington farm park near Longhope, was hoping to persuade Forest councillors to apply to the Department of the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) for an exemption from regulations governing zoos.

Mr Turney was angry that among the papers considered by the Forest Council’s licensing committee was a report by vet Mr Mike Daly, who had visited the park to judge whether standards merited giving the attraction at Little London an exemption which the council put online.

The council publishes all public documents on its website.

The Cheltenham vet found a number of animal welfare problems, particularly in the reptile house, although he also concluded that the majority of animals appeared in good health when he visited in June.

Mr Turney said he had received inadequate notice both of this inspection and one in relation to the zoo licence in February and had not seen Mr Daly’s report until a few days before the committee meeting and claimed the Cheltenham vet was not a specialist in ‘exotic’ species.

He called for an adjournment “for a comprehensive response to the conclusions reached by the horse vet.” (Mr Daly).

But both the council’s most senior legal officer, Claire Hughes, and public protection manager Keith Leslie mounted a robust defence of the authority’s processes and the committee turned down a request for an adjournment.

Mr Turney said: “Publicity of this awful and erroneous report, ahead of this meeting, has basically destroyed in five days the reputation it has taken us so long to build up.

“We are now facing some serious business damage which is possibly irreversible.

“We’ve had some quite nasty comments from the public and been blasted all over Facebook.”

He told the committee: “We’ve had three vet inspections in the last 12 months which say they (the animals) are fine.

“This inspection says the vast majority of animals are absolutely fine with one or two issues of fine tuning.

“You should be making a judgement on what the animals are today not what they were three months ago.”

He said most of the animals that were ‘sensitive’ had been removed since the inspection and most of the criticisms in the two reports this year related to the “onerous” and “extreme” requirements of the Zoo Licensing Act 1981.”

Ms Hughes said there had “technically” been insufficient notice of the February check but the rules for the June meeting did not apply to a dispensation and Mr Daly was suitably qualified.

She told councillors: “The information you have before you is lawful and there is no reason why the information should be exempt (confidential).”

Mr Leslie said to Mr Turney: “If the animals and conditions that were found had been of an acceptable standard it (a dispensation) would have been a formality.

“The standards were not acceptable and therefore the authority is not in a position to seek the exemption.”

Committee chairman Cllr Richard Leppington (UKIP, Blakeney and Bream) said: “It seems more than just paperwork.

“Four areas are constantly coming up: veterinary care, record keeping, accommodation and poor signage.

“Why do you feel these people, some of whom are eminent in their field, keep coming to the same conclusion?”

Mr Turney said: “We are here debating a situation that is historic when we should be looking at what is happening today.”

The committee decided not to apply for the exemption by eight votes to five.