Dressed in camouflage and peering around to watch for onlookers, these pictures reveal the moment a gamekeeper was caught in the act setting up illegal traps to snare wild birds on a sprawling country estate.
Ryan Waite was captured by RSPB investigators re-setting a spring-loaded pole trap on top of a 6ft tree stump at the shooting estate in Yorkshire.
The 26-year-old fined £250 after the bird charity took him to court, claiming he intended to target birds of prey on the Swinton Estate, near Wensleydale.
But the gamekeeper, of Healey, North Yorkshire, who maintained the 10,000-acre grouse moor, said he was only trying to trap grey squirrels in the jaws of the metal devices.
Harrogate Magistrates Court heard officials from the League Against Cruel Sports visited the estate on May 31, last year and found the illegal trap.
The RSPB were alerted and visited two days later. The trap was found chained to a wire with the safety cap off and covert cameras were set up in the area.
Waite was filmed removing the trap when officials came later on a planned visit, before rearming and setting the trap back.
Kim Coley, prosecuting, said: ‘Given the nature of the shooting estate and how it makes its living and its primary business is raising birds there is every
motive to trap raptors.
‘The prosecution’s case is that he intended to capture raptors.’
When asked by chair magistrate Dr John Garroway why he had targeted grey squirrels, Waite replied it was because they were an alien species, could damage trees in a nearby wood and threatened birds such as woodcocks.
Waite, who previously admitted setting the trap, said: ‘I have no real problems with birds of prey. They don’t affect my line of work.
‘I had no intention of catching a wild bird. I was trying to get a double whammy, trying to increase my percentage of catching a grey squirrel.’
Wildlife consultant Stewart Scull said: ‘It is my considered opinion that this is a pole trap set in all probability to catch a bird of prey.
‘I have never seen a spring-trap used in this way to catch squirrels. It is more than likely a squirrel would be thrown away from the jaws and in all probability would not be caught humanely.’
Mr Scull said as a qualified gamekeeper Waite should have known the danger the trap would present to birds of prey.
Dr Garroway said: ‘We take the view that you acted recklessly and we will sentence you accordingly.’
Waite was fined £250 and found to have been wreckless as to whether wild birds would be injured.
But magistrates were not convinced that he set out to intentionally catch birds of prey.
A spokesman for the Swinton Estate said the state ‘unequivocally’ condemned any illegal activity on its estate.
In a statement, he said: ‘The Swinton Estate had been made aware that there was an on-going police investigation into the setting of a trap illegally which concerned a member of staff.
‘It is very disappointing to learn that the member of staff in question has broken the law. The Estate unequivocally condemns any illegal activity and it
will take a firm disciplinary stand against any member of staff found to be in breach of this policy.’
The case comes months after the RSPB declared areas of the Yorkshire Dales no fly zones for birds of prey.
The charity says the sparsity of raptors in the dales is due to persecution by gamekeepers.
After the case Alan Firth, Investigations officer for RSPB, said he was disappointed magistrates had not found Waite to have intentionally targeted
birds of prey, adding: ‘We still feel there was enough evidence.
‘I still think the circumstantial evidence would leave people questioning the reasons behind setting the trap in that manner.’
Source: Mail Online
