TWO men have avoided jail for breaking into Marwell Zoo, damaging giraffes and penguin enclosures and distressing animals.

Nathan Daniels, 21, Alexander Grove, Fareham, and Bradley Green, 23, of Salterns Estate, Fareham, have been sentenced to a 12-month community order with 120 hours of unpaid work after they pleaded guilty to criminal damage at the Marwell Zoo near Colden Common on February 15, 2021.

A Winchester Crown Court judge on Thursday, January 19, ordered the two men to undertake the unpaid work and pay £750 each to the zoo.

The court found that Daniels cut a perimeter fence for the two men to gain entrance to the zoo and then damaged a penguin enclosure.

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Green committed criminal damage to a rear entrance to the giraffe enclosure. He then threw a bucket of disinfectant at the giraffe.

It hit the giraffe on the neck and one of the giraffes suffered injuries to its leg.

The two men were also near a tiger enclosure.

Prosecuting, Ellie Fargin said the incident took place when the zoo was closed to the public due to the Covid pandemic.

Ms Fargin said: “The intention of those damages seems to be to try to get the attention of the animal.

“The two men then shared some of these incidents through a Snapchat account and a concerned member of the public called the police. The offenders were stopped at 4.53am on February 16 not too far away from the zoo.”

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Appearing for Green, counsel Daniel Reilly said his client has pleaded guilty and showed deep regret and remorse.

He said the incident and further social media attacks by the public have caused him distress.

The court was also told Green’s is a family of animal lovers and has taken care of rescued cats and dogs.

Mr Reilly also told the court to consider the two-year time period since the incident and also the fact that Green has faced struggles with his employment.

Appearing for Daniels, counsel Graham Gilbert said his client is a full-time carer for his disabled mother.

Mr Gilbert said Daniels has also suffered social media attacks because of the incident.

Sentencing, Judge Richard Parkes KC told the two men that it was an “idiotic idea” to drive to the Marwell Zoo during the Covid pandemic.

“When you were inside you acted with extraordinary stupidity. You caused damage to the inside of the zoo and far more important is that you both caused distress to the animals.

“The incidents caused a great degree of public outrage. Because people are rightly sensible to behaviour that causes damage to animals.

“I suspect that public would like to see you two in prison. But I have to follow the sentencing guidelines. In this case it points to a community order.”

In a statement issued this afternoon, the zoo said: “Marwell Zoo would like to thank everyone involved in investigating the break-in overnight on 15 February 2021 during covid restrictions.

“We’d also like to thank Judge Richard Parkes KC for recognising the severity of what happened and the impact it had on our animals, staff, volunteers and local community, when sentencing.

“We have always worked hard to connect people with nature, whilst highlighting ways of limiting human impact on the environment and illustrating the role that species conservation and breeding plays in restoring those environments.

“It is deeply saddening to think that there are still people within our communities who do not understand the messages we work so hard to promote.

“We would like to thank everyone who sent comments, messages and donations – It really did mean a lot.”