A YOUNG entrepreneur accused of illegally trading in stuffed protected animals was planning to open a specialist taxidermy shop.
James Cranfield, 26, is due before Southend Magistrates’ Court today to answer 11 summonses in connection with alleged unauthorised dealing in stuffed and preserved animals and bones.
Cranfield, a zoology graduate, is accused of selling, offering for sale, buying and using animal items for commercial gain, without the n e c e s s a r y Government permit Websites found by the Echo suggest Cranfield was in the process of opening a business called C r a n f i e l d ’ s Curiosity Cabinet, in London Road, Leigh, selling stuffed and preserved animals and bones.
Photographs of the interior of a shop have been posted on the picture sharing website, Instagram, where he has 15,500 followers.
His pictures appear under the heading: “Cranfield's Curiosity Cabinet – open to the public soon”.
On Tuesday, Cranfield posted on the site: “It is my shop In Leigh. Grand opening in the new year, but open for business in the next week or so.”
Police, armed with a warrant, searched his parent’s house in Westborough Road, Westcliff, in May and seized several items under the Control of Trade in Endangered Species Regulations.
Cranfield, who gives taxidermy seminars around the country, was interviewed by officers on suspicion of committing offences relating to buying, selling and offering for sale endangered species.
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