Message from Raptor Persecution UK
Press release from Scottish SPCA (7th March 2023):
Penicuik man receives ban from keeping animals for five years after trapping and killing magpies
Alexander Hamilton was sentenced to a five-year ban from owning and keeping animals and 100 hours of community service at Edinburgh Sheriff Court on Tuesday, 5 March.
64-year-old Hamilton of Windsor Drive, Penicuik pled guilty to trapping magpies in illegal traps in his garden causing them distress. The birds were also deprived of adequate food water and shelter.
Scottish SPCA Chief Inspector Mark Rafferty, Special Investigation Unit, said:
“On 29 July 2022 our animal helpline received a call from a resident in Windsor Drive, Penicuik reporting two magpies caught in cages in the back garden of a neighbour.
We attended that same day but found no one at home. On looking over the fence into the back garden, we observed a Larsen Mate trap and two other cages. The two cages had no suitable shelter, food or water and no visible tag attached to them.
We attended later that day at the address and the occupier, Hamilton, let us into his garden. We found a dead magpie lying on the paving slabs in the back garden, just inside the gate.
In the bottom corner of the garden, screened off from the rest of the garden by a large unsecured fencing panel, was an area where there were three traps.
The first trap was a Larsen Mate trap containing one Magpie. The bird was in a distressed state due to being confined within the trap and was in poor condition. This trap was of a manufactured type, and was specifically designed for the purpose of catching targeted species.
Crow cage traps and Larsen traps are bird traps used to catch various territorial members of the crow family most commonly used by gamekeepers or sheep farmers.
Trap operators are responsible for traps carrying their Trap Registration Number and all traps used must only display a single tag or sign showing one NatureScot Trap Registration Number. These conditions were not being adhered to rendering this trap illegal.
The second trap contained one magpie and there was also a cage containing a magpie in poor body condition.
The magpie within this cage was distressed and managed to squeeze through the mesh on the floor of the cage and enter a space underneath the adjacent shed. The bird could be heard scraping and pecking at the wooden floor of the shed and was clearly distressed.
The birds were released from the cages and the traps and were released back into the wild.
We’re pleased with the five-year ban at the sentencing result. All animals should be protected from suffering and this includes magpies. Our team treat these cases seriously and it is good to see that the courts share this view. We will continue to investigate this type of offending, to ensure people like Hamilton are caught and stopped from further cruelty acts. I would like to thank the Procurator Fiscal Karon Rollo and the Wildlife and Environmental Crime Unit.
If anyone is concerned about an animal, they can contact our confidential animal helpline on 03000 999 999.”
ENDS
This is a good conviction for the Scottish SPCA, who reported Hamilton to the Crown Office using their powers under the Animal Health & Welfare (Scotland) Act 2006 and without needing support from Police Scotland (contrary to MSP Edward Mountain’s ludicrous claims that the SSPCA lacks the qualifications and training to implement the law).
There looks to have been some plea bargaining on the sentencing. According to this article in Edinburgh Evening News, Hamilton’s defence lawyer told the court that Hamilton owned two gundogs and asked for any animal ban imposed by the court to exclude those animals.
Sheriff Gillian Sharp obliged by sentencing Hamilton to carry out 100 hours of unpaid work in the community and disqualified him from owning or keeping animals, with the exemption of his two dogs, for five years.
Hamilton is reportedly no longer a gamekeeper and is now employed as a labourer. His conviction means he can no longer operate under the terms of a General Licence until the conviction is considered spent.
Scottish gamekeeper convicted for causing unnecessary suffering to trapped magpies
NORTH WEST HUNT SABOTEURS 