Portsmouth sparrowhawk killer fined

25th February 2020 Yovanis Cruz, who keeps racing pigeons, admitted killing the protected hawk by firing ball bearings at it with a catapult after it attacked one of his birds The crime was caught on CCTV by a neighbour’s camera Cruz, who ‘acted without mercy’, was fined £801 at Portsmouth Magistrates’ Court today (25 February) …

Stirling pigeon fancier fined for killing wild bird

19th February 2020 A 60-year-old pigeon fancier has been fined for shooting and killing a sparrowhawk. Duncan Cowan, from Cowie in Stirlingshire was fined £450 after pleading guilty to a charge under section 1(1)(a) of the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 at Stirling Sheriff Court. The court heard that on the afternoon of 18 April …

Illegal owl trader caught by police

18th November 2019 An illegal owl trader was rumbled after West Midlands Police swooped to discover birds being unlawfully kept and sold on. Officers discovered six of the protected species across three garden aviaries in Walsall after executing a search warrant alongside the National Wildlife Crime Unit. The force acted on information last December and …

Police raid shooting estate over probe in to cruelty

17th October 2019 SCOTLAND’s most prestigious shooting estate has been raided as part of a major animal cruelty investigation. The Scottish SPCA, backed by police, last week swooped on two properties on the £17.5 million Millden Estate in the Angus Glens, widely regarded as the “holy grail” of grouse moors. Investigators were looking into allegations …

Gruesome gamekeeper kept ‘kill list’ and dumped ‘1000 animals into stink pit’

A gamekeeper suspected of running up one of the biggest kill lists of endangered animals in Scottish history has escaped a jail sentence. Alan Wilson, 61, was convicted of illegally killing dozens of animals on Longformacus Estate near Duns in the Scottish Borders . But investigators believe animals including goshawks, badgers, buzzards and an otter represented only the tip …

Gamekeeper Alan Wilson sentenced

Alan Wilson sentenced for wildlife offences in Scottish Borders 19th August 2019 Police Scotland welcomes the sentencing today, Monday 19th August, of Alan Wilson who committed an array of offences under the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 that included the illegal killing of protected species. The gamekeeper, who worked on the Longformacus Estate close to …

‘Ruthless cull’: Hundreds of thousands of animals being killed on private estates to protect grouse shooting, Chris Packham says

31st July 2019 Foxes, stoats, weasels and mountain hares ‘ruthlessly’ targeted alongside illegal killings of protected species, says TV presenter. Hundreds of thousands of animals including foxes, weasels and stoats are being legally killed in the UK to protect grouse moors, naturalist and TV presenter Chris Packham has claimed. Packham was speaking to The Independent …

Gamekeeper admits wildlife crime spree at Borders estate

24 July 2019 A wildlife expert has told Jedburgh Sheriff Court how he found more protected species lying dead in a Borders wood than he had seen in any small area in his 40-year career. Alan Wilson pleaded guilty to shooting dead badgers, an otter, goshawks and buzzards as well as using 23 illegal snares …

Gamekeeper killed protected birds, badger and otter

Further to the news yesterday that Scottish gamekeeper Alan Wilson, 60, had pleaded guilty to nine of the 12 charges of wildlife crime against him (see here), here is some further detail. https://raptorpersecutionscotland.wordpress.com/2019/07/23/convicted-scottish-gamekeeper-alan-wilson-his-litany-of-wildlife-crimes/

Chris Packham’s fury at ‘out of control’ illegal killing of birds of prey in UK

Please watch the video in this news article. https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/chris-packhams-fury-out-control-18296411