Shooting birds in gardens using air rifles

Having found several bodies over the last week (shot birds e.g. collared doves), I finally heard the shots this afternoon (Sunday, 24th July), and watcheed, to my horror, as a dove was shot in the tree in the garden next to me.  I was horrified and shouted out. i have reported this to the police and knocked on neighbours doors - all deny knowledge.  I have pets of my own and can't bear to think of this evil people committing this wanton destruction, and possibly aiming also at my pets... what else can I do????

  • Anonymous
    0 Anonymous 01/08/2010 19:38 in reply to Jeannie41

    Hi Jeannie

    Thank you for posting your update on this thread.  I was thinking about what you where going through only yesterday, and I hope that the issue would resolve itself in its own time.

    Great to hear that the Police have more involvement with the low-life's who are creating this 'horrible' problem in your area.  It is sad to hear about the Wood Pigeon and its demise.

    I think a news item (local or national) will help the situation and make people aware of the dangers of Air Rifles if they end up in the wrong hands.

    Sorry cannot help you with the ID of the bullets/cartridges or whatever they are!.  They are large ekkk!

    Regards

    Kathy and Dave

  • Hi Jeannie,

    Thanks for the updates, and I'm pleased to see the police are taking it seriously. Things do seem to be moving along, and I wish you and the birds the best of luck. Sorry I can't help with the bullets though.

  • Hi all, since my last update the empty property where the bird was shot has been 'attended to' by a team of police - I have no idea if this was anything to do with me - the officers of which there were many, would only say that they were removing someone from the premises (which are empty so the person must have been squatting I guess), and a police officer and another PCSO have been to see me today (2/8).  They are going to finish the house to house this week. The response has been pretty good actually, and they are referring my capsules pic (which may be from a BB gun) to their fire arms team.  I saw some kids running around on garage rooves nearby waving toy guns, which I told the officers about. I think I am turning into a regular snoop, oh dear!  But no further incidents to date .... phew

     

    Jeannie

  • Good news Jeannie! Let's hope that that's the end of it!

  • Hi Jeannie

     

    I really hope someone is able to do something about this and you did the right thing reporting it to all those different places, that way something should be done.

    These idiots really do cause a lot of damage and distress with such things.  Sadly air rifles are often seen as "toys" and children / teenagers are given them by their parents.

    I had incidents in my last house where the neighbour kids were shooting pellets at my cats THROUGH the open windows of my house!  More needs to be done to keep these pointless rifles out of society.

  • Anonymous
    0 Anonymous 04/10/2010 20:34

    Jeannie41 said:

    Having found several bodies over the last week (shot birds e.g. collared doves), I finally heard the shots this afternoon (Sunday, 24th July), and watcheed, to my horror, as a dove was shot in the tree in the garden next to me.  I was horrified and shouted out. i have reported this to the police and knocked on neighbours doors - all deny knowledge.  I have pets of my own and can't bear to think of this evil people committing this wanton destruction, and possibly aiming also at my pets... what else can I do????

    How horrible.

    I can understand your anger, frustration, fear and determination to get this stopped!!

    Good luck Jeannie

    Pipit x

  • Cats are protected under property laws as well as animal welfare laws so if someone causes harm to them, shooting or otherwise, they are committing offences, you can read about these here.

    As for the general licences they do only cover a few certain species of which the woodpigeon and collared dove are listed under some of them. However, you could not argue that shooting them in the garden is in anyway 'protecting public health and safety' or preventing serious damage to crops'. The police have prosecuted individuals in the past for shooting collared doves among other species in gardens as they could not justify the shooting under the terms and conditions of the licences. The general licenses can be read via this link.

    As has been mentioned previously, it is an offence to shoot over someone elses land without their permission as seems to be occurring in the original situation.

  • It is so terrible and I know exactly what your going through. I have someone in my street who does exactly the same and sadly it has got to horrifying levels. This person is regularly shooting his air rifle and I know he also uses poisons. Many cats in the area have been shot and poisoned and the police and rspca have been involved but nothing has been done. I saw him shooting at a cat only yesterday and it sickens me. This person keeps pigeons and also actively advertises the persecution of birds of prey with stickers on the back of his car and also I have seen him near nesting sights, which worries me even more. This has been going on for the past few years, and I know of one family who sadly lost 4 cats within months of each other through poisonings. We have a nice people living in our area and no one has been actively accusing him but now he has started to act violently and also giving people abuse in the street. I really dont think that is fair that some one taking part in these sorts of activities can simply get away with it. I hope some one can give us advice on what to do as we all just want to live a peaceful life with our pets and our wildlife without having to worry that someone is actively destroying it for no reason.

  • Anyone that condones the use of air rifles or shotguns to kill or injury both wild and domestic animals and then comes onto a wildlife forum to support this idea is beyond my understanding.

    Craig

  • Hi all

    Just to let you all know that i will be going through this thread and removing all of the information that can be deemed as being misleading or innappropriate, for those new to this thread it's because of some issues we had earlier this autumn. I will leave the thread open so that the advice on how to cope with people shooting and poisoning is clear and easy to find.

    Pinky, i am sorry to hear about your situation, please take a look at the advice given earlier in this thread, taking pot shots at wild birds and poisoning wildlife and pets most certainly is illegal and the police should definitely be involved.