{"id":732,"date":"2011-04-14T11:05:18","date_gmt":"2011-04-14T11:05:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dpfr.org.uk\/wp_dpfr\/?p=732"},"modified":"2011-04-14T11:05:18","modified_gmt":"2011-04-14T11:05:18","slug":"","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dpfr.org.uk\/wp_dpfr\/732","title":{"rendered":"Gamekeeper used live pigeon to trap birds of prey, court told"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>The ever vigilant Bob Berzins spotted this in the Guardian of 12th April:<\/div>\n<div>&nbsp;<\/div>\n<p class=\"stand-first-alone\" style=\"padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 34px; padding-left: 0px; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; border-collapse: collapse; width: 16.5cm; font-size: 1.333em; font-family: arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(102, 102, 102); \"><span class=\"Apple-style-span\" style=\"font-family: georgia, serif; line-height: 24px; \">Glenn Brown, 39, is accused of flouting strict wildlife protection laws in the Peak District National Park<\/span><\/p>\n<div id=\"content\" style=\"padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; border-collapse: collapse; float: none; width: 16.5cm; left: 0px; \">\n<ul class=\"article-attributes\" style=\"padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 10px; padding-left: 0px; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-left: 0px; border-collapse: collapse; list-style-type: none; border-top-width: 1px; border-top-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-bottom-style: solid; font-size: 12px; line-height: 1.25; position: relative; overflow-x: hidden; overflow-y: hidden; min-height: 66px; width: 16.5cm; height: auto; \">\n<li class=\"byline\" style=\"padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; border-collapse: collapse; overflow-x: hidden; overflow-y: hidden; font-weight: normal; display: block; \"><span class=\"Apple-style-span\" style=\"font-family: georgia, serif; line-height: 24px; border-collapse: collapse; \"><a class=\"contributor\" href=\"http:\/\/www.guardian.co.uk\/profile\/martinwainwright\" style=\"padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; border-collapse: collapse; color: black; background-color: white; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; \">Martin Wainwright<\/a><\/span><\/li>\n<li class=\"publication\" style=\"padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 5px; padding-left: 0px; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; border-collapse: collapse; overflow-x: hidden; overflow-y: hidden; font-weight: normal; \"><span class=\"Apple-style-span\" style=\"font-family: georgia, serif; line-height: 24px; border-collapse: collapse; \"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.guardian.co.uk\/\" style=\"padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; border-collapse: collapse; color: black; background-color: white; text-decoration: none; \">guardian.co.uk<\/a>, <time datetime=\"2011-04-12T09:59BST\" pubdate=\"\" style=\"padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; border-collapse: collapse; \">Tuesday 12 April 2011 09.59 BST<\/time><\/span><\/li>\n<li class=\"resize\" style=\"padding-top: 5px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; margin-top: 5px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; border-collapse: collapse; overflow-x: hidden; overflow-y: hidden; font-weight: normal; clear: both; border-top-width: 1px; border-top-style: dotted; border-top-color: rgb(51, 51, 51); display: block; font-size: 0.75em; position: relative; top: -5px; \"><span class=\"Apple-style-span\" style=\"font-family: georgia, serif; line-height: 24px; border-collapse: collapse; \"><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"\" class=\"trail-icon\" src=\"http:\/\/static.guim.co.uk\/static\/103611\/common\/images\/icon_font.gif\" style=\"padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; border-collapse: collapse; position: relative; top: 5px; \" \/>&nbsp;<a href=\"http:\/\/www.guardian.co.uk\/help\/accessibility\" id=\"larger-sidebar\" style=\"padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; border-collapse: collapse; color: rgb(0, 86, 137); background-color: white; text-decoration: underline; display: inline; \" title=\"Increase text size\">larger<\/a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href=\"http:\/\/www.guardian.co.uk\/help\/accessibility\" id=\"smaller-sidebar\" style=\"padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; border-collapse: collapse; color: rgb(0, 86, 137); background-color: white; text-decoration: underline; display: inline; \" title=\"Decrease text size\">smaller<\/a><\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<div data-global-auto-refresh-switch=\"on\" id=\"article-wrapper\" style=\"padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; border-collapse: collapse; position: relative; \">\n<div id=\"main-content-picture\" style=\"padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 14px; margin-left: 0px; border-collapse: collapse; display: block; \"><span class=\"Apple-style-span\" style=\"font-family: georgia, serif; line-height: 24px; border-collapse: collapse; \"><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"A sparrowhawk\" height=\"276\" src=\"http:\/\/static.guim.co.uk\/sys-images\/Guardian\/Pix\/pictures\/2011\/4\/12\/1302597670506\/A-sparrowhawk-007.jpg\" style=\"padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; border-collapse: collapse; \" width=\"460\" \/><\/span><\/p>\n<div class=\"caption\" style=\"padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; border-collapse: collapse; color: rgb(102, 102, 102); display: block; font-size: 12px; \"><span class=\"Apple-style-span\" style=\"font-family: georgia, serif; line-height: 24px; border-collapse: collapse; \">A sparrowhawk was found dead 40m from the trap allegedly laid by Brown. Photograph: Murdo Macleod for the Guardian<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div id=\"article-body-blocks\" style=\"padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; border-collapse: collapse; \">\n<p style=\"padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 13px; margin-left: 0px; border-collapse: collapse; \"><span class=\"Apple-style-span\" style=\"font-family: georgia, serif; line-height: 24px; border-collapse: collapse; \">A gamekeeper cooped a live pigeon in a trap for&nbsp;<a href=\"http:\/\/www.guardian.co.uk\/environment\/birds\" style=\"padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; border-collapse: collapse; color: black; background-color: white; \" title=\"More from guardian.co.uk on Birds\">birds<\/a>&nbsp;of prey on National Trust land, deliberately breaking&nbsp;<a href=\"http:\/\/www.guardian.co.uk\/environment\/wildlife\" style=\"padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; border-collapse: collapse; color: black; background-color: white; \" title=\"More from guardian.co.uk on Wildlife\">wildlife<\/a>&nbsp;protection laws, a court has been told.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 13px; margin-left: 0px; border-collapse: collapse; \"><span class=\"Apple-style-span\" style=\"font-family: georgia, serif; line-height: 24px; border-collapse: collapse; \">Glenn Brown, who has appeared in a tourism podcast promoting grouse shooting, was caught on undercover film recorded by the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds, magistrates in Chesterfield, Derbyshire, heard.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 13px; margin-left: 0px; border-collapse: collapse; \"><span class=\"Apple-style-span\" style=\"font-family: georgia, serif; line-height: 24px; border-collapse: collapse; \">Brown, 39, of Derwent Valley in the Derbyshire Peak District, denies seven charges under the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 and the Animal Welfare Act 2010. They include intentionally trapping a sparrowhawk, keeping pigeons to use as live bait and causing unnecessary suffering to a pigeon, pheasant and carrion crow.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 13px; margin-left: 0px; border-collapse: collapse; \"><span class=\"Apple-style-span\" style=\"font-family: georgia, serif; line-height: 24px; border-collapse: collapse; \">Prosecutor Rod Chapman told the court that the offences involved a cage trap designed for crows which was placed on Howden Moor in the Upper Derwent Valley. The vast upland area of grass and heather has attracted controversy over grouse shooting near areas where raptors such as hen harriers and peregrine falcons nest.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 13px; margin-left: 0px; border-collapse: collapse; \"><span class=\"Apple-style-span\" style=\"font-family: georgia, serif; line-height: 24px; border-collapse: collapse; \">Chapman said that an RSPB investigator, John McMahon, had found the trap and initially thought that it was being used lawfully to catch crows. But subsequent visits in April and May last year convinced him that strict regulations on such trapping were being flouted and that birds of prey were Brown&#39;s real target.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 13px; margin-left: 0px; border-collapse: collapse; \"><span class=\"Apple-style-span\" style=\"font-family: georgia, serif; line-height: 24px; border-collapse: collapse; \">He told the court that traps were allowed by occasional licences from Natural England, on condition that they had to be visited daily, with the humane dispatch of legally targeted birds and the immediate release of any others. The &quot;bait bird&quot; also had to be provided with food, water, shelter and a suitable perch, and a gamekeeper required authorisation from their employer or the land&#39;s owner.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 13px; margin-left: 0px; border-collapse: collapse; \"><span class=\"Apple-style-span\" style=\"font-family: georgia, serif; line-height: 24px; border-collapse: collapse; \">Chapman said that on later visits, McMahon had found a badly injured pheasant in the trap, which had to be put down humanely, and then a white feral pigeon, which was not a suitable decoy for crows.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 13px; margin-left: 0px; border-collapse: collapse; \"><span class=\"Apple-style-span\" style=\"font-family: georgia, serif; line-height: 24px; border-collapse: collapse; \">&quot;The most likely species to be attracted by a pigeon are birds of prey, raptors &ndash; and a bird such as a sparrowhawk will be attracted to the pigeon. It will enter the trap, kill the pigeon and then find that it cannot get out,&quot; he said. A dead sparrowhawk was found 40m (131ft) from the trap.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 13px; margin-left: 0px; border-collapse: collapse; \"><span class=\"Apple-style-span\" style=\"font-family: georgia, serif; line-height: 24px; border-collapse: collapse; \">Film taken covertly by a remote battery-operated video camera showed Brown inspecting the trap, said Chapman. He told the court: &quot;He can be facially recognised. He looks inside the trap and he can clearly see the white pigeon in there.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 13px; margin-left: 0px; border-collapse: collapse; \"><span class=\"Apple-style-span\" style=\"font-family: georgia, serif; line-height: 24px; border-collapse: collapse; \">&quot;Now if Glenn Brown was a gamekeeper acting within the law he would know that a white pigeon inside a cage trap is illegal, and he would know that it was his responsibility to remove that bird immediately.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 13px; margin-left: 0px; border-collapse: collapse; \"><span class=\"Apple-style-span\" style=\"font-family: georgia, serif; line-height: 24px; border-collapse: collapse; \">&quot;But he does not do so. Having checked the trap and seen the bird, he left the site.&quot;<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 13px; margin-left: 0px; border-collapse: collapse; \"><span class=\"Apple-style-span\" style=\"font-family: georgia, serif; line-height: 24px; border-collapse: collapse; \">A second man visiting the trap in a balaclava was also Brown, according to the prosecution, because similar clothes were later found at the gamekeeper&#39;s home. District judge Caroline Goulborn and court officials adjourned after Chapman&#39;s opening statement to visit the trap site. The case continues.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The ever vigilant Bob Berzins spotted this in the Guardian of 12th April: &nbsp; Glenn Brown, 39, is accused of flouting strict wildlife protection laws in the Peak District National Park Martin Wainwright guardian.co.uk, Tuesday 12 April 2011 09.59 BST &nbsp;larger&nbsp;|&nbsp;smaller A sparrowhawk was found dead 40m from the trap [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":73,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_themeisle_gutenberg_block_has_review":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-732","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dpfr.org.uk\/wp_dpfr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/732","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dpfr.org.uk\/wp_dpfr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dpfr.org.uk\/wp_dpfr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dpfr.org.uk\/wp_dpfr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/73"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dpfr.org.uk\/wp_dpfr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=732"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dpfr.org.uk\/wp_dpfr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/732\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dpfr.org.uk\/wp_dpfr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=732"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dpfr.org.uk\/wp_dpfr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=732"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dpfr.org.uk\/wp_dpfr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=732"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}