A Lancashire pet shop has been cleared of any wrong doing by its local council after animal welfare concerns were raised on social media. Pictures of mice in a crowded cage, allegedly taken in Diane’s Pet Store, in Thornton, near Blackpool, were shared online.

The images, appearing to show dozens of white mice crammed into the same cage, sparked outrage on Facebook before they were removed.

Wyre Council said the pet shop was found to be operating within the terms of its licence following a visit .

And according to the Blackpool Gazette a person speaking on behalf of Diane’s Pet Store hit back at the online critics, and called the people posting the images on Facebook “morons”.

“We haven’t got any mice running about. They are all running in their cages. There are some very sad people around. We have done nothing wrong,” the newspaper was told.

A Wyre Council spokesman said: “The council carried out an inspection of the pet store and at that time did not find any breaches of their licence.”

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