Student charged with meerkat theft

A student has been charged with stealing a meerkat, police in Britain said.

The animal went missing from its enclosure at Wingham Wildlife Park, near Canterbury, Kent, on December 29 last year.

A spokeswoman for Kent Police said Adam Catherick, 19, of Laburnham Avenue, Sandwich, was charged with theft yesterday and will appear at Folkestone Magistrates’ Court on May 11.

Deborah Margaret Smith, 47, of Burch Avenue, Sandwich, who was also arrested at the time, has been charged with possession of cannabis and will appear at the court on the same date.