Yorkshire gamekeeper caught red handed killing two short-eared owls.
On the 19th April 2017 RSPB officers witnessed Timothy David Cowin shoot two protected short eared owls in the Langshaw Moss area of the Whernside shoot. The disposal of the bodies on the moor was filmed, officers from North Yorkshire and Cumbria Police met RSPB at the location and intercepted Cowin. The bodies were recovered along with a Foxpro calling device. On 28th August 2018 Cowin plead guilty to shooting the owls and possessing the Foxpro. He was fined a total of £1000 and ordered to pay £170 costs.
After being shot the gamekeeper then buried the bodies of both owls in a stone wall.
Its all in a days work all the tools of the trade. No it wasen,t me guv honest, and the sad thing is its happening every day all over the UK. Great effort from the investagtions team and great response from the Police pity about the paltry fine but a conviction is a conviction. So congarts to all involved.
This will be more very bad publicity for Grouse shooting.
Owls, generally, are very popular with the public, unlike Hen Harriers which most have never heard of.
To blatantly go out, early afternoon, on a nice spring day in such a popular hiking area, shows utter contempt, with a certain amount of stupidity. He would have been safer, under normal circumstances, waiting till dusk, or going out after dark with a lamp.
However, it seems his card was already marked, so it was probably only a
matter of time.
I am surprised he did not also get charged with abandoning his firearm in an unsecured vehicle.
Trapit Its called I’ll never get caught syndrome because he’s done it allegedly loads of times one day we shall have our day no shooting at all it may be a way of but it will come and the countryside will revert back to its natural status kill or be killed and the that’s the way it should less prey less raptors just pure natural habitat and the strong and lucky will survive.
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![[airesizeimg src=”http://raptorpolitics.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/Short-eared-owl-1.jpg” alt=”Short-eared owl-1″ class=”aligncenter size-full wp-image-24260″ ]](http://raptorpolitics.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/Short-eared-owl-1.jpg){kind=link}
Its all in a days work all the tools of the trade. No it wasen,t me guv honest, and the sad thing is its happening every day all over the UK. Great effort from the investagtions team and great response from the Police pity about the paltry fine but a conviction is a conviction. So congarts to all involved.
This will be more very bad publicity for Grouse shooting.
Owls, generally, are very popular with the public, unlike Hen Harriers which most have never heard of.
To blatantly go out, early afternoon, on a nice spring day in such a popular hiking area, shows utter contempt, with a certain amount of stupidity. He would have been safer, under normal circumstances, waiting till dusk, or going out after dark with a lamp.
However, it seems his card was already marked, so it was probably only a
matter of time.
I am surprised he did not also get charged with abandoning his firearm in an unsecured vehicle.
Trapit Its called I’ll never get caught syndrome because he’s done it allegedly loads of times one day we shall have our day no shooting at all it may be a way of but it will come and the countryside will revert back to its natural status kill or be killed and the that’s the way it should less prey less raptors just pure natural habitat and the strong and lucky will survive.