Aldershot - Circus trainer Mary Chipperfield was last night convicted of callously kicking and beating a baby chimpanzee which was made to sleep in a tiny box. But despite being found guilty of 12 counts of cruelty to Trudy, she is fighting to have the chimp returned to her training centre.
Ms Chipperfield (61) was confronted by an angry crowd of animal activists as she left court smiling. Sentencing of her and her husband, Mr Roger Cawley, was adjourned until April 9th at Aldershot Magistrates' Court, Hants. Cawley was convicted of cruelty to a sick elephant, which he whipped around a circus ring to "see how sick she was." Dr Jane Goodall, a world-renowned expert on chimpanzees, said she had lived in a "barren, sterile, inappropriate and cruel environment".
