BIRMINGHAM, England — A magistrate told a British man that spiders have feelings and fined him for cruelty after he left his pet tarantula without food or water for nine days.

Liam Conway, 22, of Birmingham, in central England, left the hairy zebra tarantula in a glass tank when he moved hurriedly out of his home because of debts.

A prosecutor for the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals said the four-inch insect-eating spider can survive long periods without food but needs water at all times.

"It is an animal and it has feelings," said Magistrate Raymond Rider, who fined Conway $100.