Gamekeeper admits to killing buzzard

There is no mention of the land owner so one has to accept he was ignorant of what was going on to preserve his stock ! I would hope that the gamekeeper receives a severe penalty and I sincerely hope the courts have the guts to use their full powers and act accordingly.

I agree Brenda. It would also be interesting to know whether anyone is following up on who gave the gamekeeper the banned poisons and what they propose doing about that supplier.......

I agree.

I don't know much about raising game bird chicks, but the pens I have seen (admittedly only on TV) are covered in with netting. How could a buzzard access a pen if it was secure?

This man deserves a severe penalty, with nationwide coverage of his sentence. Too many people are getting away literally with murder, and not just those who kill birds of prey, but those who commit unspeakable crimes against other animals.

Shocked to read that a professional gamekeeper would so blatantly flout the law. He must have been well aware his actions were illegal, but no doubt he will receive a pawlty fine and a slap on the hand. Hope the coursts have the guts to deal firmly with him.

Unknown said:

There is no mention of the land owner so one has to accept he was ignorant of what was going on to preserve his stock ! I would hope that the gamekeeper receives a severe penalty and I sincerely hope the courts have the guts to use their full powers and act accordingly.

I'm not so sure.

The Gamekeeper was an employee of the Landowner, and it is very easy to deny that he knew what was happening, if questioned about the incident what would they say? "Yes I told the gamekeeper to kill the buzzards" or "He did what? I just asked him to protect the pheasants"

It is much easier to convict the gamekeeper than the landowner in the same way as it is much easier to catch the drug user with a small quantity of drugs than it is to catch the drug dealer who is suplying the drugs.

As to the sentence, I think it is unlikely to be too harsh, our prisons are over crowded, I suspect a slap on the wrist and a token fine.

ND

Almost certainly the gamekeeper was told by landowner to keep pests(their type of word) down and so only doing his duty so to speak,almost certainly landowner supplying poison and even if not the landowner certain to know what was going on.Sadly because of reasons given by others plus it is not seen as much of a crime and of course in all probability the judge or magistrate will have friends connected to landowner the punishment will be miniscule.Sadly seems a very familiar pattern.  

The trouble is, it is so difficult to prove that  the landowner or even estate manager knew of the gamekeeper's actions, unless he 'talks' and according to the reports, he has accepted all the blame himself and has changed his job.

ND has echoed my thoughts on this.  If anything, if the landowner knew he more than likely wouldn't want to be dragged into it.  ALthough any of this I guess we'll never know.

Personally I think wildlife and animal crimes in general are dealt with far too leniently, it makes me sick when I read of someone who just gets an 'x' month ban on keeping animals - they may as well say they got away with it.

As I understand it, the RSPB and other organisations are trying to get wildlife crime taken *dare I say it* more seriously.

Let's hope this Gamekeeper gets the punishment deserved!

Anyway, I expect these Pheasant chicks could be potential prey for any predator - if I Sparrowhawk can take down a Woodpigeon, I imagine a Pheasant chick should be too much effort...and then there's foxes and other mammals.

With so many people signing the BoP pledge, surely it should be taken far more seriously although I fear you are both (ND & Paul E) right...