There is good news for Scottish badgers as a recent case has resulted in a higher sentence being given to a former gamekeeper, Rhys Davies, who was involved in badger baiting at the Millden Estate in Scotland. Davies, from Gwynedd, North Wales, received a sentence of eight months imprisonment and was ordered to pay a fine of £1,800. The Milden Estate has indicated that they were not aware of Davies’s crimes.
The horrific crimes Davies committed toward wildlife were further exposed when he tried to get professionally printed photographs of his ‘trophies’ and was subsequently arrested. A photo lab technician reported Davies to SSPCA having viewed one of his images, which showed both a badger and a dog fighting.
When the police raided Davies’s estate cottage in October 2019, the degree of animal abuse that had taken place was revealed. Dogs were found with hideous injuries and kept in squalid conditions, whilst the inside was scattered with dead wildlife and unsecured firearms. Veterinarians later stated that dogs had substantial injuries from regular fights with badgers. The dogs had facial and bodily mutilation where they had been treated with DIY treatments, which included using unapproved medicines and staple guns to avoid him contact with vets, who would have reported him for animal offenses.
The dogs had facial and bodily mutilation where they had been treated with DIY treatments, which included using unapproved medicines and staple guns
The sentence Davies has received is one of the heaviest ever imposed for organised badger baiting. This crime was prosecuted under the Animal Health and Welfare (Scotland) Act, 2006, because of the seriousness of the dogs’ injuries. The legislation was updated in 2020, with a potential increase in the sentencing of up to five years and unlimited fines. Davies received eight months imprisonment and a fine of £1,800.
“A custodial sentence sends a clear message to anyone who wants to use dogs to bait and maim wildlife – they will be punished for it.”, says, SSPCA Chief Supt, Mike Flynn.
This crime has highlighted that the Badger Protection Act 1992 is not always effective in its primary purpose to protect badgers from being persecuted. Therefore, the Badger Trust is campaigning for the law to be strengthened in line with Animal Welfare and the (sentencing) Act, 2021. An offender would receive a maximum sentence of five years for abusing a badger as they would if it’s a dog.
Currently, wildlife crimes such as the persecution of badgers are not notifiable to the Home Office. As wildlife is not recorded in this way, there are no official national statistics. Increasing sentencing would by default make a crime under the Badger Protection Act a notifiable offence.
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THE UNTAMED BEAST 