News
Gamekeeper guilty of trapping birds of prey
13 June 2011
A gamekeeper working on National Trust land has been found guilty of illegally trapping birds of prey in the Peak District.
Glenn Brown, 39, of Upper Derwent Valley, was filmed using a cage with a live pigeon to catch a sparrowhawk.
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Natural England permit corvid slaughter
April 25, 2011
Natural England have controversially granted the Game and Wildlife Conservation Trust a license to slaughter hundreds of corvids. This despite the fact that the GWCT have a vested interest in the outcome and already claim 'that corvid control can contribute to the conservation of some, but not all, songbird species.'
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Songbird Survival fund bird slaughter
January 28, 2011
Against Corvid Traps had joined in the criticism of SongBird Survival’s funding of a project of intensive killing of corvids. An RSPB spokesman is quoted in the Guardian newspaper as saying: "there are dark forces at work here," in describing the news that Songbird Survival are funding the intensive killing of magpies and crows in several areas of the UK.
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Hoghton Tower Scandal
November 27, 2009
Lancashire Police failed to prosecute gamekeepers from the Hoghton Tower shoot, despite a juvenile crow in a Larsen trap being without water when inspected on one of the hottest days of the year. Another juvenile crow found dead in a Larsen trap a few metres away also without water.
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Brother of Olympic medalist convicted of cruelty
May 28, 2009
Edward Lucy, brother of Olympic rowing silver medalist Tom Lucy, has pleaded guilty to clubbing trapped crows to death in a Multi-trap cage after posted video footage on YouTube. The shocking video shows for the first time what really happens when crows are caught in these traps.
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Gamekeeper escapes jail for bird traps
January 3, 2009
A GAMEKEEPER, who failed to prevent an assistant killing birds of prey and clubbing badgers to death on a 6,000-acre sporting estate, escaped an immediate prison sentence yesterday.
Roger Venton, 34, of Wheldrake Lane, Elvington, near York, was given a sentence of three months imprisonment, suspended for 12 months, at Telford Magistrates' Court.
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Royal gamekeeper fined over owl death
November 23, 2008
One of the Queen's gamekeepers has been fined £500 for setting a trap that caught a tawny owl.
Dean Wright, who works on the Sandringham Estate, near King's Lynn, Norfolk, admitted committing the offence at Shernborne.
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Wildlife crime warning after bird trap
May 5, 2008
A BIRD trapper caught red-handed has been fined £250 after pleading guilty to attempting to snare highly-protected wild creatures.
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Queen's Donation to Wildlife Haters
March 26, 2008
The Queen has given money from her private income to a group that wants to exterminate magpies, grey squirrels and feral cats. Needless to say Songbird Survival has close links to the bloodsport industry of which the Queen takes part in.
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Bird ban for callous businessman
March 1, 2008
A Washington, Tyne and Wear, businessman has been banned from keeping birds after catching magpies in an illegally-sized trap.
Stephen Carruth, 39, director of Northern Health Care, built the Larsen trap after claiming the magpies were scaring off songbirds.
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Gamekeepers guilty of trapping birds of prey
February 9, 2008
Three gamekeepers yesterday admitted using baited traps to catch protected birds of prey that might attack grouse and partridges on an estate in North Yorkshire.
Scarborough magistrates heard that RSPB inspectors had found five traps baited with live pigeons on the Snilesworth Estate near Osmotherley.
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Buzzard Killed By Illegal Pole Trap
February 1, 2008
A buzzard was killed after landing on a illegal pole trap in a field near Lincoln. The buzzard was found by a member of the public in the field at the side of the A57, between Lincoln and Saxilby.
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Gamekeeper illegally caged birds
November 16, 2007
A County Durham gamekeeper who kept wild birds has been ordered to carry out 180 hours of community service. RSPCA inspectors and police found two goldfinches kept in cages on land belonging to Daniel Robinson, 42, from Bishop Auckland.
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Prince Harry quizzed
October 31, 2007
Prince Harry and a close friend have been interviewed by police after two rare and legally protected birds of prey were killed on the royal family's Sandringham estate in Norfolk last week.
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Middleton Under Fire for Shooting with Royals
October 13, 2007
Brigitte Bardot believes it was "sad" Kate Middleton felt she had to take part in a royal deer hunt to win over her boyfriend Britain's Prince William.
The French actress accused Kate - who accompanied William and his father Prince Charles on a deer-stalking trip on the royal family's Scottish estate Balmoral, earlier this month - of taking part in the blood sport just to endear herself to the royal family.
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Gamekeeper fined for banned pesticides
October 4, 2007
A gamekeeper who kept a quantity of deadly, banned pesticides has been fined by a court.
Richard McMorn was arrested following a joint investiugation involving Northumbria Police, the RSPB and Natural England, amid fears that the toxins were being used to kill wildlife.
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Gamekeeper baited Larsen trap with live pigeon
April 30, 2007
A Borders gamekeeper has admitted using live pigeons as bait in a Larsen trap and lacing pheasant carcasses with poison in a way likely to injure to birds of prey.
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Bird of prey starved
August 28, 2006
A rare bird starved to death after it was caught in a trap set for pests. Police believe the goshawk died because someone closed the gate on the trap, which is usually used by gamekeepers to snare crows, rooks and magpies, which harm wildlife such as grouse.
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Gamekeeper shot trapped buzzards
May 9, 2006
A Gamekeeper shot two buzzards which had become caught in a trap designed to control crow numbers, Elgin Sheriff Court heard yesterday.
It was claimed that David Scott, 40, killed the protected birds of prey rather than risk injury trying to release them.
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BASC member guilty of cruelty
June 30, 2003
The High Court has ruled that Magpies have legal rights. A senior judge declared it is unlawful to allow the birds to suffer unnecessarily if they are used under licence as decoys in traps to catch other magpies. This is often done to with the intention of protecting the eggs and chicks of songbirds.
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Police Wildlife Liaison Officer guilty
June 30, 2003
Two gamekeepers from the Worksop Manor Estate, Nottinghamshire pleaded guilty at Newark magistrates to the use of a cage trap baited with a live pigeon in order to take birds of prey.
The head keeper Michael Mather was fined £440 with £560 costs while the underkeeper. Mark Wardle a recently retired Nottinghamshire Police Wildlife Liaison Officer was fined £600 with £840 costs.
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Magpie culls criticised
19 June 2001
The culling of magpies to protect the numbers of British songbirds has been criticised by the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds. The RSPB says the use of Larsen traps by the public is on the increase. The Larsen trap, which uses a live decoy bird, is not illegal providing certain conditions are met.
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