30th August 2007

THREE FACE CHARGES OF ILLEGAL HUNTING

Three huntsmen face prosecution in the third Westcountry case to be instigated by the League Against Cruel Sports.The members of Minehead Harriers, based in Somerset, face charges under the Hunting Act.

It is understood the LACS has footage which it claims shows the trio hunting illegally.

The case will be the third brought by the league in the region. So far, all of them have been in Somerset

30th August 2007

Man fined in Hunting Act 'first'

A 69-year-old has been fined £200 after what is believed to be the first case in Wales under the Hunting Act 2004. William Francis Armstrong from near St Asaph, Denbighshire, admitted hunting a wild animal with a dog after he was seen putting a terrier into a hole.

The terrier man, who was not at the hearing at Prestatyn Magistrates' Court, was ordered to pay £60 costs

30th August 2007

Travelling hunters

BLOOD sports enthusiasts from Northumberland are travelling to Lincolnshire for illegal hunts, warn police.

Lincolnshire wildlife officers say gangs from Manchester, Northumberland and even Devon and Cornwall are preying on local wildlife.

Dogs chasing hares are often videoed and the footage taken back to where the coursers live and used in major betting events

30th August 2007

Ex-trainer faces hare hunt case

RETIRED champion racehorse trainer Peter Easterby is to appear in court next month after being accused of being involved in an alleged hare coursing event.

The former Malton trainer, who retired in 1996, is said to be pleading not guilty and the National Coursing Club stated yesterday he had been taking part in legal field trialling with greyhounds

29th August 2007

Wildlife crime crackdown pledged

A hard line on bird poisoning and wildlife crime has been promised by Environment Minister Mike Russell. Convictions could result in the removal of firearms licences or cutting farm aid payments under measures being considered by the Scottish Executive.

Mr Russell confirmed the government was looking at such moves after a recent spate of poisonings. In particular, he said he had been "absolutely appalled" by the killing of a golden eagle in Peeblesshire

27th August 2007

Hunt for the Scottish poisoners

Death of female golden eagle with fledgling chick prompts calls for crackdown on rogue gamekeepers

The golden eagle laid out on the sterilised steel dissection table had no name, only a number: 07103. It was a flawless specimen, her burnished gold and bronze plumage was clean, her eyes intact and her yellow feet and talons bright and unmarked.

But the eagle died a painful death on a hillside in the Scottish Borders three weeks ago, while 60 feet away her agitated fledgling chick perched in a tree, "yelping" in distress. It was poisoned with carbofuran, a pesticide banned in Britain since 2001, which attacked its central nervous system, causing rapid paralysis, seizures, cramps and coma.

Police and conservationists believe the eagle is the victim of an intensifying and illegal war against birds of prey being fought by gamekeepers and landowners to protect commercially reared game birds - red grouse, pheasant and partridge - from their natural predators

27th August 2007

POLICE SET THEIR SIGHTS ON POACHERS

Families who go for a day out in the Lincolnshire countryside are being asked to keep watch for blood sports enthusiasts.

Lincolnshire Police wildlife officers are bracing themselves for an expected increase in acts of cruelty towards hares, deer and badgers

25th August 2007

Renowned trainer denies hare coursing

A RENOWNED racehorse trainer is facing charges of hunting with dogs in a landmark court case. Miles Henry Easterby, known as Peter, was arrested after an investigation by police into an alleged hare coursing event.

Mr Easterby, 78, from Habton Grange Farm, Great Habton, near Malton, North Yorkshire, denied two charges of attending a hare coursing event and allowing the practice on his land, when he appeared at Scarborough Magistrates' Court.

Mr Easterby appeared in court with John Shaw, 54, of Welburn Manor, Welburn, near Kirkbymoorside, North Yorkshire, and Andrew Lund-Watkinson, 56, of Pine View Lodge, Newton-on-Rawcliffe, near Pickering, North Yorkshire. They were also charged with two charges of allowing a hare coursing event and allowing the practice on their land

16th August 2007

Man in court on badger charge

AN Alnwick man has been given a conditional discharge after being charged with interfering with a badger sett near Belford.

Robert McCarthy, 32, of Cannongate was arrested alongside Stephen Robert McCarthy, 60, of Mill Road, Wyvestone, Stowmarket, Suffolk after a joint operation between Northumbria

Police, the RSPCA Special Operation’s Unit and the Northumberland Wildlife Trust Badger Unit. He appeared at South East Northumberland Magistrates Court last Tuesday and was given a conditional discharge for nine months.

Robert McCarthy is a huntsman for the Percy Hunt

15th August 2007

Dogs will be dogs, says hunt case judge

A huntsman was cleared yesterday of allowing his hounds to kill a terrier after a judge declared "dogs will be dogs". The case against John Norrish was thrown out by Judge Jeremy Griggs, who attacked the drafting of the Dangerous Dogs Act

Hunt supporters say the case should never have been brought and claimed it had cost taxpayers at least £50,000. Judge Griggs ordered the jury at Exeter Crown Court to find Mr Norrish not guilty because the hounds had effectively been allowed on to the private garden in East Worlington, near Crediton, Devon, where the attack took place

13th August 2007

Pet terrier torn apart by hounds

A senior magistrate fought with a pack of staghounds as they ripped apart her pet terrier, a court has heard.

Catherine Hodgson, 59, from Devon beat the Tiverton staghounds as they "peeled apart" her jack russell Pippa.When they refused to let go she used her hands and body as a human shield to try and protect her 14-year-old pet.

John Norrish, from the East Worlington kennels, has pleaded not guilty at Exeter Crown Court to a charge under the Dangerous Dogs Act

7th August 2007

'DEER KILLING NOT UNLAWFUL'

Animal cruelty investigators have concluded that no offence was committed after a farmer filmed a stag having its throat slit on land owned by the League Against Cruel Sports.The RSPCA has also criticised Countryside Alliance member Steve Coates for being reluctant to co-operate in the inquiry.

The organisation took action after Mr Coates sent in video footage of the ailing deer being slaughtered at the Baronsdown Sanctuary, near Dulverton on Exmoor, on April 1. Mr Coates claimed it seemed that the man who killed the deer, Geoff Hayes, spoke to League staff as if he knew them.

But Mr Hayes told investigators he had taken action to put an ailing deer out of its misery, and had no connection with the League

1st August 2007

Court case 'will make hunt stronger'

THE Denbigh and Flint Hunt will be stronger than ever, according to Master of the Hunt Jeremy Reed (shown right), despite the controversial sentencing of its "terrier man".

William Francis Armstrong, 69, of Cefn Home Farm, near St Asaph, was fined £200 plus £60 court costs for hunting a wild animal with dogs, at Prestatyn Magistrates' Court on Monday. But Mr Reed said he was confident that membership will not fall in the slightest and he sees no reason why the hunt will be affected.

"We're only talking about a minor infringement of a technicality," he said. "It is really no different to someone driving at 35mph in a 30mph zone