A gamekeeper on the Farr Estate, Tomatin, Inverness-shire was fined £1,500 for attempting to trap rare birds of prey. The keeper was found guilty of laying traps to catch peregrine falcons and goshawks. The 37-year-old was convicted at Inverness Sheriff Court in January 2005 at the end of a trial which lasted two years.
Sheriff Donald Booker-Milburn found the keeper, of Strathdearn, Tomatin, guilty of two charges under the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981.
The first charge stated that he set a crow cage funnel trap in Kyllachy with the intention of trapping peregrine falcons and goshawks. He used the trap with the funnel open, the door wired shut and two live feral pigeons set within the trap as bait.
The second accused him of possessing nine illegal gin traps, which can be used to trap wild birds and mammals such as foxes and wild cats, for criminal purposes.
RSPB Species Protection Officer Keith Morton said at the time: “We are very encouraged that the sheriff imposed a substantial penalty, as this will highlight the seriousness of this offence”. He added: “It will be interesting to see the reaction of the estate, we suspect there is a great deal of support about this activity among some employers.”
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/4217109.stm
The keeper’s conviction was quashed by the Court of Appeal later in 2005.
Raptor Persecution UK 