Men convicted of hunting hares on South Downs

Four people have admitted illegal hunting in Sussex.

The men were caught hare-coursing, at Angmering Park, on the South Downs in February.

Thomas Joseph Connors, 31, from Wallington, Surrey; Edward Mark Connors, 40, from Horley, Surrey; James O’Brien, 38, from Westerham, Kent and James Robb, 24, from Stanmore, Middlesex, used dogs to hunt wild hares on the Downs between Worthing and Arundel.

Each of the men was fined £200 and ordered to pay costs of £250 each when they appeared at Worthing Magistrates’ Court on Wednesday.

Edward Connors, Thomas Connors and James Robb were ordered to forfeit the dogs.

Sussex Police farmwatch co-ordinator PC Peter Child said: “Hare coursing is illegal and it will be robustly dealt with whenever it comes to our attention.”

http://www.theargus.co.uk/news/4523789.Men_convicted_of_hunting_hares_on_South_Downs/

Pair guilty of hare coursing charges

TWO land owners have been found guilty of hare coursing following a two-day trial during which the effectiveness of the Hunting Act was questioned.

Peter Easterby was found guilty of hare coursing

Former racehorse trainer Peter Easterby, 79, and Major John Shaw, 56, were convicted at Scarborough Magistrates’ Court of attending and allowing their land to be used for hare coursing events in March 2007.

During the trial the court heard and saw video evidence from two animal welfare activists who secretly filmed footage during dog trials at land belonging to Easterby and Shaw.

The events were organised by the North Yorkshire Greyhound Field Trialing Club, whose chairman told the court he had sought legal advice to ensure the club’s activities were within the law.

The court also heard the ways in which the events differed to pre hunting ban hare coursing, in particular that the dogs were muzzled throughout the event.

However, after deliberating the definitions given in the Hunting Act, District Judge Christina Harrison deemed the activities on the days in question to be hare coursing.

She said: “There is no doubt that everyone in this case has had extreme difficulty in wrestling what parliament meant by the act.

“I have two gentlemen here who have never been in trouble with the courts and who took every step to ensure what they were doing was legal – and yet they find themselves in this position.

“I am also extremely concerned that a police officer attended on the first day and that Major Shaw explained to him what was going on before the police officer went off happy in his own mind with what was happening. One wonders whether Major Shaw and Mr Easterby would have found themselves in this position if the police officer acted on that first day.

“If he had said to Major Shaw he was concerned about the legalities Mr Shaw would have stopped the event and I believe the same of Mr Easterby.”

Three other defendants – Elizabeth Dixon, 44, of Appleton-le-Street, near Malton, who was accused of facilitating the event and Andrew Lund-Watkinson, 56, of Pine View Lodge, Newton-on-Rawcliffe, and Jacqueline Teal, 42, of Scarborough Road, Norton, who were both accused of attending the event, had all charges against them dropped shortly before the trial on Monday (27 July).

http://www.scarborougheveningnews.co.uk/news/Pair-guilty-of-hare-coursing.5507580.jp

Illegal hunting sees Irish hare numbers halve

The number of Irish hares in Northern Ireland almost halved because people are flaunting the law banning its hunting, a pressure group claimed today.

The League Against Cruel Sports called for a permanent prohibition to be put in place after the population dropped to 98 this year.

This is the lowest recording since measures were taken to protect the creature in 2002.

The League’s Northern Ireland campaigns manager Louise Robertson said: “This drastic fall in hare numbers should be a wake-up call to politicians to use the review of the Wildlife (NI) Order 1985 to do what the vast majority of people in Northern Ireland want and give this species permanent protection.”

She said it was legal to course (hunt) brown hares but not Irish hares and warned some people may not be able to tell the difference.

“I think there are problems with enforcement because people can still course brown hares but not the Irish hare. How many can actually tell the difference?

“We think it causes problems in the consistency and enforcement of this.”

In 2008, 187 Irish hares were observed compared to 98 this year.

Ms Robertson added: “These new findings are a clear sign that this threatened endemic species needs greater protection measures before the population reaches a low from which it cannot recover.”

At present the protection order is renewed annually by the government. Former Environment Minister Angela Smith fought a successful legal battle in 2005 against local coursing clubs which had challenged her special preservation order for the species.

A recent opinion poll for the League showed 71% of people in Northern Ireland wanted full protection granted to the Irish hare.

However, the Countryside Alliance has pointed to growing Irish hare population levels in the past.

http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/local-national/illegal-hunting-sees-irish-hare-numbers-halve-14439993.html

Inside the world of dog-fighting

It was the sound of dogs barking and whimpering that first attracted PC Paul Foster to the back of an old kitchen showroom in inner city Birmingham.

As he got closer he heard voices and men cheering.

What police found in Alum Rock a mainly Pakistani inner-city suburb, was an unexpected and disturbing crime scene.

“The first thing I notice was the black pit bull terrier, little fur, covered in blood in a bad way,” PC Rogers told BBC Radio 4′s The Report.

Twenty-six men were eventually convicted two years ago for taking part in the largest illegal dog-fight uncovered in the UK.

The RSPCA had long regarded dog-fighting as the preserve of white working class men attending fights in the countryside.

What the fight in Alum Rock revealed was the first glimpse of organised dog fighting in the Asian community taking place in urban surroundings and tens of thousands of pounds gambled on the result.

Since then subsequent raids have revealed that dog-fighting has become a problem in some sections of the Asian community.

Increasing problem

Ian Briggs, chief inspector of the RSPCA’s Special Operations Unit said dog-fighting is up 400% in the past three years in the UK.

“Out of all the work we do 98% is Asian”.

Mr Briggs said the organisation believes there is a dog fight nearly every week nationally from a small fight in the park to the bigger organised events such as that uncovered at Alum Rock.

“Information about one fight we uncover leads to another but certainly we are scratching the surface.”

What has also surprised RSPCA officials is the attention to detail that accompanies the fights.
“ They’re looking for a more exotic dog, more jaw pressure, one whose got more stamina, the drive just to kill, that’s what they are looking for, them characteristics people will pay money for ”
Youth worker, Handsworth

During raids in the West Midlands, RSPCA officers have uncovered detailed training logs which would not be out of place in a professional athlete’s routine.

One log listed a nine-week plan including putting the dog on a treadmill for 30 minutes, three times a day and listing what drugs should be administered and the diet regime.

A youth worker from Handsworth said the goal is to create a perfect specimen.

“They’re looking for a more exotic dog, more jaw pressure, one which has got more stamina, the drive just to kill, that’s what they are looking for, them characteristics people will pay money for. That’s where the money’s at,” he said.

Yet it would be wrong to think this is a covert world.

Foreign fights

Young men openly parade their illegal pit bull terriers saying how police cannot tell the difference – while the police with stretched resources can only play a limited role in tackling the problem.

Meanwhile there is evidence that young British Asians are having an impact on dog fighting back in Pakistan.

Basharat Najiba, a youth worker in Birmingham, said that a sizeable number of spectators make the trip from the UK with some even owning the fighting dogs and paying money to locals to look after them.

He said: “I think British Asians are big players because of the financial attachments that they can bring from here.”

Cruelty threshold

Dog fighting is part of life in rural Punjab and Kashmir and there are fears that its acceptability could be increasing among a new generation of young Asians in the UK aware of fathers, uncles and cousins attending dog fights in Pakistan.

But forensic psychologist Dr Vince Egan, of the University of Leicester, believes this creates real dangers of a tolerance of cruelty and of lowering ideas of “what is acceptable” and creating greater cruelty.

The RSPCA says it is keen on tackling this problem in the British Pakistani community but is finding it hard to penetrate the gangs.

And while the majority of the community find the fights abhorrent, there is among others, as one Asian youth worker explained, certain apathy.

“People say ‘the dog wants to fight’ and I don’t believe that at all because it’s the human being that’s taking the dog to fight. They haven’t got a choice about being in that ring,” he said.

“It’s the same like drugs – it’s always going to happen. It’s the same like prostitution it will always happen, it’s like one of them kind of things where it’s being abused to bad limits behind closed doors and people need to know about it because it does happen.”

http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/1/hi/uk/8175047.stm

Three arrested in dog-fighting raids

Three men were arrested yesterday in a joint police and RSPCA operation targeting organised dog fighting in Bradford.

The RSPCA’s Special Operations Unit, backed up by uniformed inspectors and West Yorkshire Police, carried out a number of raids across the city.

One man was arrested for questioning on suspicion of possessing dog fighting paraphernalia, under the Animal Welfare Act 2006.

Another man was arrested on suspicion of possessing a pit bull-type dog, under the Dangerous Dogs Act 1991.

A third man was held in connection with causing unnecessary suffering to two dogs, a pit bull-type and an Akita-type, under the Animal Welfare Act 2006, and for suspected possession of three pit bull-type dogs under the Dangerous Dogs Act 1991.

A quantity of class A drugs was also confiscated from one of the properties.

Four addresses were searched in Bradford following information relating to alleged organised dog fighting.

RSPCA inspector Chris Heyworth, of the Society’s Special Operations Unit, said: “We are extremely pleased with the operation and would like to thank West Yorkshire Police for their help and co-operation throughout. “Dog fighting is cruel and callous and we shall continue to seek out those who feel that taking part in this barbaric activity is somehow acceptable.” Inspector Alan Rhees-Cooper, of West Yorkshire Police, said: “We have carried out these raids with the RSPCA because people in the area have raised concerns about dogs being kept at the properties, and about the circumstances in which they were being kept.

“I want to assure people that if they have worries that ‘dangerous’ dogs are being kept near them they should tell us and we will endeavour to take positive action. If people are concerned organised dog fights may be taking place, they should telephone the RSPCA immediately.”

The RSPCA’s national cruelty and advice line is 0300 123 4999. All calls will be treated in confidence.

http://www.thetelegraphandargus.co.uk/news/4514966.Three_arrested_in_dog_fighting_raids/

RSPCA: Bird club official admits illegally keeping rare species

One of the most high profile members of Britain’s aviculture community has been given a 16-week suspended prison sentence, a curfew between 9pm and 6am and ordered to pay £750 in costs after he admitted illegally keeping one of the UK’s rarest wild birds at his Yorkshire home.

Sean Fitzpatrick – a former chairman and an honorary life vice president of the National Council for Aviculture – admitted having 20 live red-backed shrikes and three stone chats at his home.

The 42-year-old had been criticised by District Judge Mr John Foster after he initially denied the charges, only to change his pleas to guilty on the second day of his trial when his defence argument collapsed. The district judge described Fitzpatrick’s actions as clandestine and underhand and said he made insufficient enquiries into the provenance of the birds, despite his knowledge and background.

Fitzpatrick, of Brunt Road, Rawmarsh, Rotherham, admitted a total of five charges, including two separate charges of selling four red-backed shrikes in November 2007 and three of possessing live wild birds between September 2007 and July last year, contrary to the Wildlife & Countryside Act 1981.

Fitzpatrick changed his pleas to guilty after he was unable to prove the birds in his possession had been legally bred in captivity, and contradictory evidence was given in his defence.

RSPCA inspector Cliff Harrison said:

“Quite apart from the fact these are rare and endangered birds it is very sad to see that nearly all of them perished in captivity. It is the suffering involved that really concerns the RSPCA, and that would be the same whether it involved a red-backed shrike or a sparrow.

“Once again the excuse used by the defendant is that the birds were bought in good faith, but our message has always been that the buyer can choose not to purchase. I hope this serves as a warning to everybody that they should ensure birds have been legally bred before buying.”

Officers from the RSPCA, the National Wildlife Crime Unit and Defra visited Fitzpatrick’s home address on 17 July last year after information was received that he was in possession of red-backed shrikes. The information also suggested Fitzpatrick had been involved in the sale of some of the rare birds.

A total of eight juvenile red-backed shrikes were examined, along with three stonechats. The birds were all fitted with British Bird Council (BBC) rings. However, the only paperwork supplied with them was declared as falsified by the Belgian authorities, which said the documents had actually been ‘issued’ by a ministry that ceased functioning in 2003.

Fitzpatrick initially claimed he had purchased 12 red-backed shrikes from two unknown Belgian men, who spoke broken English, at a bird show in Stafford in 2007. He said he sold some for £70 and gave others to breeders as gifts.

However, his story was contradicted by an ex-pat living in France who initially stated that he had met Fitzpatrick at Calais to hand over the shrikes then stated in court that he had handed them to Fitzpatrick at Stafford

http://www.politics.co.uk/opinion-formers/press-releases/animal-welfare/rspca-bird-club-official-admits-illegally-keeping-rare-species-$1314503$366366.htm

Terrierman charged with sett interference

Badger News (Spring 2009)

A terrierman and whipper-in for the South Dorset Hunt is to go before Bournemouth magistrates twice in July. In each of two cases Christopher Leadbeater will face charges of interfering with different badger setts in March and November last year. Sue Old of the Dorset Badger Group is to be a witness in both cases which are expected to run for a total of four days.

Crawley & Horsham hunt drops fight against saboteurs

Legal action against hunt saboteurs by the Crawley & Horsham hunt and 80 landowners has been shelved a year after it was launched, with probable costs of £100,000 to hunting and little gained.

Funds for the test case were procured from the Countryside Alliance (CA) and Masters of Foxhounds Association (MFHA), with around £20,000 from the Crawley & Horsham and other hunts.

But now the CA and the hunt have reached an agreement with the saboteurs to pay their costs — which amount to more than £60,000 — and drop the case.

“Continuing [the case] would be pointless,” said Crawley & Horsham joint-master Antony Sandeman.

“People will think we have cocked up and had to back off, but it’s not that. It’s the cost of the case and the length of time [it has been running].

“The evidence to prove our case is there and can be used if they return to their old tricks.”

The hunt first applied for an injunction in July 2008 to stop members of the West Sussex Wildlife Protection Group (WSWPG) trespassing on land and harassing hunt supporters (news, 19 June 2008).

The case was halted after judge Ross Cranston’s opposition to hunting was revealed.

In October 2008, the case went to the High Court, but on 22 October, it was abandoned when the judge found procedural problems with the case brought by the hunt’s barrister, Tim Lawson-Cruttendon.

He also threw out the allegations of nuisance and trespass, leaving only harassment to be answered (news, 30 October 2008).

But Mr Sandeman said their main aim had been realised — Simon and Jaine Wild of the WSWPG have stopped harassing the hunt, although they still monitor them.

Mr Wild says the CA and Crawley & Horsham have backed off due to evidence of unlawful hunting and harassment they claim to have against the hunt.

“They are seeking to save face now by saying we are complying with their wishes, but I behaved exactly in the same way last season as I have done before.

http://www.horseandhound.co.uk/competitionnews/392/286742.html

Badger cruelty case continues

A CASE at Dumfries Sheriff Court in which a 58-year-old man has been accused of snaring and beating to death six badgers, has been continued for a week to allow further discussions between his solicitors and the procurator fiscal.

Anthony Rogers, of Breconside Farm, Moffat, has pleaded not guilty to a total of nine charges in connection with the deaths of the animals which were alleged to have been beaten with a blunt instrument.

The charges, under the Protection of Badgers Act and the Wildlife and Countryside Act are said to have taken place at Crockett Wood at the farm between January 1 and April 4.

Six of the charges relate to snaring and killing the badgers and a further charge alleges he cruelly ill-treated the animals.

He is also accused of setting in position a quantity of snares in close proximity to a badger sett which he knew to be active.

http://www.dgstandard.co.uk/dumfries-news/local-news-dumfries/local-news-dumfriesshire/2009/07/22/badger-cruelty-case-continues-51311-24207126/

Calls to scrap shooting plans

Shooting ducks for 'sport'

CALLS to scrap plans to bring wildfowl shooting back to the Teifi estuary are being made by many organisations and individuals.

A consultation meeting with the British Association of Shooting and Conservation, which wants the right to shoot ducks and geese between Patch and Old Castle Farm, ended with an overwhelming vote to abandon the idea.

But BASC insists it will continue to develop its plan “while taking the objections into account”.

Protests against the scheme, which has to be approved by the Crown Estates, have come from Afon Teifi Fairways, the Teifi Boating Club, St Dogmaels and Ferwig Community Councils, the Countryside Council for Wales and many local landowners on both sides of the estuary.

Pembrokeshire county councillor Ian Gollop, who proposed the motion to abandon the scheme, said: “Just one person voted against that and one abstained at the meeting. The overwhelming majority want them to just drop it. They should just give up the idea.”

Jim Marsden, who represented both the Fairways and Boating Club at the meeting, said: “For both organisations the main issue is safety. The youngsters in sailing club sail all year round and they could be in the firing line. There has been no proper risk assessment for this.

“There is so much happening on the river now. Money has been spent in recent years to encourage people to use the Teifi estuary for all kinds of recreation – on and near the water at all times of year. There are new footpaths and accesses for example. Landowners have livestock nearby. There are roads nearby on both sides of the estuary.”

Ferwig Community Council clerk Brian Gooch said: “The council’s main objection is that shooting on the estuary would benefit very few to the inconvenience of a great many people.”

The Countryside Council for Wales has raised concerns about the possible disturbance of otters and has called for a full survey of how the river is used by all groups and individuals.

Preseli Pembrokeshire MP Stephen Crabb said: “I am concerned at the level of disquiet and opposition coming from local residents about the proposal. I held an open surgery in the village and there was a strong view coming from the community that wildfowling is not appropriate on the proposed site.”

Many locals have accused BASC of being secretive about the proposals and of trying to keep the consultation closed.

Cllr Gollop said: “I am a landowner on the riverside and I didn’t get a letter. There has been an air of secrecy about it. The whole thing was ill-prepared and suspiciously selective.”

Meurig Rees, of BASC, said: “We don’t always get everyone first time, we sent out to all the landowners we know about. All the organisations we should consult with have been contacted and we have not been secretive.”

He added: “We have taken on board what people have said and will look at the management plan again. It’s an ongoing process.”

http://www.tivysideadvertiser.co.uk/news/4502244.Calls_to_scrap_shooting_plans/