Category: Persecution Incidents in England

Two more raptors shot dead in Norfolk

Norfolk is becoming quite the raptor persecution hotspot….

Norfolk Constabulary are investigating two separate persecution incidents following the discovery of a dead sparrowhawk and a dying buzzard in February.

The sparrowhawk was found with gunshot injuries on 16th February  by walkers on the Brisley Road in Whissonsett, near Fakenham.

One week later walkers heard shooting in Narford Wood near Swaffham and found the dying buzzard which had been shot.

Any information, please call Norfolk Constabulary on 101.

News article from EDP24 here.

Facebook braggers get caught out

dead sparSome people are just very, very stupid.

A couple of days ago someone called Steve R Godfrey posted a picture of a dead sparrowhawk on a private Facebook forum called Forester’s Hunting Community. This group is for those interested in air rifles and shooting. He included the following statement with his photograph:

“This was stalking my friends racing pigeons. He asked for my services“.

In response, many, many group members wrote of their utter disgust and outrage at the inference that Godfrey had killed this bird. The group’s moderators banned Godfrey from the group and reported him to the police.

An update on the group’s Facebook page yesterday stated that Derbyshire police were actively investigating the incident following the high number of complaints that had been received from the shooting community.

Steve R Godfrey’s Facebook account appears to have vanished.

Kudos to the members of the Forester’s Hunting Community for reporting him and to Derbyshire Constabulary for following up.

neknominateAnother investigation has been launched after a video of a man slitting a deer’s throat and drinking its blood was posted on Facebook last month. The ‘stunt’ was allegedly part of the ‘neknominate’ craze where someone drinks alcohol, performs a stunt and then nominates someone else to take part. The video was posted by someone called Shaun Wilson from Newcastle. An article in the Newcastle Chronicle (see here) suggests that the person in the video is a gamekeeper and that he has been suspended from his position on a Northumberland estate.

The National Gamekeepers’ Organisation has confirmed that the gamekeeper is one of their members and they have apparently launched a disciplinary investigation. A committee hearing next month will decide whether the man’s actions are ‘relevant to gamekeeping and whether he has damaged the reputation or profession of gamekeeping’. Don’t hold your breath – this is the same organisation that thinks a conviction for possession of a banned poison is not enough to warrant expulsion from the organisation because ‘it’s not a wildlife crime’ (see here).

Shot peregrine found dead near pheasant pen in Yetminster

From Lauren Jean on Twitter (@lau1180) –

This peregrine was found shot dead near a pheasant pen close to Millennium Woods near Yetminster, Dorset. The discovery has been reported to the police and the RSPB.

perg shot Yetminster March 2014

Case against Lloyd Webber’s gamekeeper moves to trial

The case against a gamekeeper employed on Andrew Lloyd Webber’s estate in Hampshire has moved to trial.

Mark Stevens, 42, is accused of a series of trapping offences alleged to have taken place on the Sydmonton Court Estate, Hampshire, in August and September last year. He has denied the charges.

His trial will take place in July 2014.

See here for previous blog.

Case against Stody Estate gamekeeper Allen Lambert: part 4

The case against Allen Lambert, a gamekeeper on the award-winning Stody Estate, continued in February and is now set to go to trial.

Lambert, 64, of Old Lodge House, Stody, Melton Constable in Norfolk has already pleaded guilty to storing the pesticides Mevinphos and Aldicarb, but has denied a series of further charges concerning the alleged killing and possession of 14 buzzards, 1 sparrowhawk and 1 tawny owl.

His trial will take place in May.

For previous blogs on this case see here, here and here.

Gamekeeper accused of pole-trapping on Lloyd Webber’s estate

It has been reported that a gamekeeper is appearing in court tomorrow to face various charges of alleged wildlife crime on Andrew Lloyd Webber’s country estate.

There is no suggestion Andrew Lloyd Webber was involved.

Mark Stevens, 42, is accused of five alleged offences. Three relate to allegations that a tawny owl was caught in a spring trap set on a pole on the Sydmonton Court Estate, Hampshire in August 2013. Two relate to allegations that spring traps were not properly set on the Sydmonton Court Estate in September 2013.

Tomorrow’s hearing will be the first in this case.

Further updates later…

Buzzard shot & critically injured in North Yorkshire

North Yorks Police logoA critically-injured buzzard has been euthanised after being found shot earlier this month.

The buzzard was found on Friday 14th February (Valentine’s Day) on Brownmoor Lane in Huby, near Easingwold in North Yorkshire. It had five shot gun pellets in its body and one had shattered its wing.

North Yorkshire Police are appealing for information and can be contacted by phone or email (see here for press release and contact details).

Well done to them for a timely and informative press release (published within 7 days of the injured bird being discovered).

Red kite shot dead in West Yorkshire – police appeal 4 months later

Red Kite shot N Yorks Oct 2013Police are appealing for information four months after the discovery of a dead red kite in West Yorkshire.

The one year old bird was found by a footpath on the River Wharfe between Wetherby and Harewood last October. It had been shot.

The news about this bird’s death emerged via the BBC Look North (Yorkshire) Facebook page a couple of days ago (as highlighted on the Birders Against Wildlife Crime Facebook page).

We’ve looked elsewhere for a press release but can’t find anything, either from October or now, including on the West Yorks Police website and police local community news sites.

What’s the point of waiting for four months before appealing for information? Why, after all the reassurances that ‘wildlife crime is a police priority’, are we still seeing these poor responses?

West Yorks Police have previously been applauded for their reaction to suspected raptor persecution in their area, and deservedly so (see here).

 

Gamekeeper convicted for setting illegal pole trap

Ryan Waite setting the pole trap.JPG-400x0Press release from RSPB:

A gamekeeper has been convicted of using an illegal trap on a shooting estate on two occasions.

At Harrogate Magistrate’s Court today (13 February) Ryan Waite, employed as a gamekeeper on the Swinton Estate in North Yorkshire was sentenced on two charges of illegally setting a spring trap between May and June 2013.

Waite had pleaded guilty to the charges at an earlier hearing on December 10, 2013.

However, he had denied that the trap was intended for birds of prey, as alleged by the prosecution, claiming rather that it was for catching squirrels.

The court today ruled that his conduct had been reckless.

He was fined £250 with an additional £105 costs and victim surcharge. 

Following an initial report from the League Against Cruel Sports, on the 2nd June, RSPB Investigations visited Ox Close plantation on the Swinton Estate, North Yorkshire, and discovered a spring trap that had been placed on top of a two-metre high tree stump. These are commonly known as pole traps and have been banned since 1904.

Birds of prey are usually the target of such devices as they use the elevated position as a vantage point and the traps are strategically placed where they will hunt.

RSPB Investigations disabled the trap and then set up covert surveillance of the site to monitor who was responsible and two days later, on 4th June, Waite was filmed re-setting the trap on top of the stump.

As a result of this footage, North Yorkshire Police executed a search warrant, assisted by the RSPB. Although the spring trap had been removed from the pole trap site, it was later found and seized at Waite’s property.  Waite was also caught on camera removing the trap.

Howard Jones, RSPB Investigations Officer, said: “It is a disappointing reality that the use of pole traps still occurs in 2013 and that some gamekeepers are continuing to adopt these Victorian techniques. The device was deemed outdated and barbaric in 1904, yet a century on we are still finding these illegal traps being set in the countryside.  Sentencing needs to get tougher to ensure people are deterred from operating such devices in the future.

“We welcome today’s result as it shows that such barbaric practices will not be tolerated in today’s society.”   

There’s a good blog about this case written by the RSPB Investigations Team here.

There’s also an opportunity to view the covert footage showing Waite re-setting the pole trap here

Congratulations to the RSPB Investigations team for another job well done, and to the fieldworkers from the League Against Cruel Sports for identifying the illegal trap and alerting the authorities.

Bowland Betty (1)Swinton Estate has been described as “very well known and highly respected” by the author of The World’s Best Shoots (see here).

Swinton Estate is also ‘very well known’ for being the grouse moor location where hen harrier Bowland Betty’s shot corpse was found in 2012 (see here). Purely coincidental, obviously.

What interests us now is whether convicted gamekeeper Ryan Waite will keep his job, and whether he was/is a member of the National Gamekeepers Organisation. Let’s ask the NGO whether this criminal is from their ranks and if he is, whether they will continue to accept his membership. Emails to: info@nationalgamekeepers.org.uk

UPDATE 14/2: The NGO has issued a statement to say convicted gamekeeper Ryan Waite has never been one of their members (see here).

We’re still interested in whether this convicted gamekeeper will keep his job at the “highly respected” Swinton Estate. Emails to: swinton@stantonmortimer.co.uk

Buzzard shot and left to die

BZ shot Dereham Jan 2014Norfolk Constabulary and the RSPB have issued a joint appeal for information following the discovery of a shot buzzard in the Dereham area.

A veterinary x-ray revealed a peppering of shotgun pellets throughout its body resulting in the bones of both wings being smashed.

A member of the public found the wounded bird by the roadside on 2nd January 2014 and took it to the Larwood and Kennedy Veterinary Practice in Dereham. Vets believed the bird had been shot several days before it was picked up and due to the extent of its injuries the buzzard was euthanised.

Vet George Gould, who examined the bird, said: “These sorts of injuries in particular do not tend to be immediately fatal but instead result in days of suffering”.

Anyone with information about this incident is urged to contact the Police on 101, Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111, or the RSPB Investigations Team on 01767 680551.

Full story on EDP 24 website here.