NIMBY? Not unless you have a tail and spots...

What do you think of when you hear the word NIMBY? Uptight English folk – in the suburbs or beyond – resenting the arrival of gypsies (sorry, travellers), foreigners (genuine asylum seekers, possible criminals let out for good behaviour), care in the community cases? In other words, anyone who isn’t “one of us”.

No-one living in London can comprehend the concept of nimby-ism (or is it nimby-ness?); we all rub along, rich or poor, human or animal, English, British, European, African, South American, Australian and so on...and so on.

Our next-door neighbours on one side are Sudanese; on the other, Irish. And we get along just fine, thank you!

Of course, tensions boil over in the capital but, apart from angry residents opposing late closing hours for trendy pubs (like The Pineapple in Kentish Town) or dodgy planning regs (Stella McCartney’s outdoor shower), we simply get on with it.

Apart, that is, from some poor (as in unfortunate because they are far from cash-starved!) people in Peckham, who could be described as NIMBYS. One of their neighbours has something unwelcome in his garden but I think , for once, their protests are totally justified. Local council chiefs said his garden ‘lodgers’ had to go but local magistrates have overruled the council and said the residents will just have to put up and shut up.

And who or what is in this man’s garden in a quiet residential street? Why none other than leopards – yes, you read that right – cloud leopards kept in 12ft high cages! Just imagine looking out of your bedroom on a balmy summer’s night, wondering whether the leopards would be able to jump in and say hello.

Or what if you wanted to have a barbecue? Would that be total torment for these poor creatures who clearly don’t get a good walk from one end of the year to another!

And who is this neighbour from hell? (Well, I’m sure that’s what they must have branded him by now...) According to the Evening Standard, Todd Dalton is an “internet entrepreneur” who has made his money from “tinned crocodile curry, snake vodka and Viagra alternatives made from hornets”. OK then. So he is wild animal sybarite perhaps? He says he is committed to conservation but I reckon he’s breeding these leopards for some new gourmet venture!

Mr Dalton is forthright in his own defence:

“These animals are not pets. It is not like you could buy them. I am registered with a European breeding programme and have permission to look after them.”

So that’s ok then. Forget safaris in Africa – home of the big cats – it seems you can get to see some fierce felines in Peckham. Who’d have thought it?!

Woof Woof