A children’s magician in Derby, central England, has been told he must pay a $579 licensing fee after the city council classified the rabbit that appears in his act under rules for “keeping and training animals for exhibition.” Stuart Brown, 60, who performs as Magic Stuart, said he had never been charged for bringing his rabbit, Snowy, to shows in more than 15 years and described the demand as a shock.
Brown said the rabbit is untrained, appears only briefly and is often taken to charity events and hospital visits to comfort children. "I was shocked, to be honest. I’d never been charged a penny for using rabbits before," he told local reporters. He said Snowy is sometimes brought out for 10 minutes at the end of an appearance and at most is on stage about 20 minutes a month.
Derby City Council placed Snowy in a licensing category that carries a three-year fee of $579; renewals would cost $443. The council said a license has been required for the keeping or training of animals for exhibition since Oct. 1, 2018, and that its fees are in line with other local authorities. Brown has not paid the fee and said he is completing a six‑page application that he feels does not reflect his situation.
"It just seems incredibly excessive, but my main gripe is that I’m being put in the same category as those with much larger animals, such as an animal menagerie," Brown said. He said the application asks whether the animal will be trained and what type it is; he has written "none" for training because he considers Snowy untrained, and said some of the use categories available on the form — television, theatre, circus, animal encounters, birds of prey — do not match his performances.
The council’s published fee schedule, cited by Brown and local media, sets higher charges for other categories: the list includes $1,515 a year for dog breeders with more than 11 females, $928 for pet sellers, more than $1,350 for horse operators and $1,005 a year for keeping dangerous wild animals. Brown, who said he was laid off from Toyota two decades ago and turned a hobby into a small business, performs at schools, parties and charity events, and said Snowy helps bring comfort to sick children.
Brown said he worries the cost will hurt his one-man business and impede charity work that he often does for free. "Such an expense can be damaging to small businesses, and I don’t even charge for a lot of these charities," he said. He plans to submit the application with an attached appeal letter and said he is waiting to see how the council responds before deciding whether Snowy will continue to appear in his act.
The council defended the requirement as part of animal welfare regulation and said licensing and associated fees are necessary to ensure standards are met. The outcome will determine whether a performer known for bringing a small comfort animal to family audiences must comply with licensing rules designed for a range of animal exhibitors across the city.