Published: 21/07/2010 08:00 -
Updated: 21/07/2010 08:13
A WILDLIFE project founder has slammed the RSPCA for its “selective ideas on cruelty” following Burton’s landmark legal ruling on drowning squirrels.
Andrew Meads, founder of Safewings — a conservation organisation which specialises in rescuing wildlife and birds — labelled the hearing “utterly ridiculous for killing a pest.”
He said: “Sadly this is yet another piece of useless legislation potholed with too many grey areas. As an invited consultee in the Animal Welfare Act I was optimistic that improvements would be made but true to form both the Government and its animal rights charity advisors failed abysmally.”
The reaction came after the Burton Mail exclusively revealed how Raymond Elliot, 58, of Maple Way, Branston, was handed a sixmonth conditional discharge at Burton Magistrates’ Court for causing unnecessary suffering — by drowning a grey squirrel in a water butt.
He was also told to pay £1,547 in legal fess incurred by the RSPCA investigation and now has a criminal record.
Mr Elliot said: “This is an injustice. People do it across the country all the time — they are just making an example of me. I do not feel what I did was inhumane or cruel.”
RSPCA inspector Laura Bryant said: “The killing of this squirrel involved suffering and that was an offence under the Animal Welfare Act.
“Drowning an animal is a horrible death and magistrates agreed that it causes unnecessary suffering, therefore if you kill a squirrel by drowning, you are committing a criminal offence.
“This case has a serious message for anyone who has purchased a trap and then set it in their garden as a way of dealing with squirrels.
“People need to be aware that drowning animals causing suffering is a slow, terrifying death and it is against the law to cause this suffering to animals.
“To clarify, Mr Elliot was taken to court regarding the method he used to kill the grey squirrel (drowning the animal) which he admitted caused unnecessary suffering under the Animal Welfare Act, not just because he killed one.”
Anyone seeking advice on deterring squirrels from their property should visit the RSPCA website www.rspca.org.uk.
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