As regular CFZ-watchers will know, for some time Corinna has been doing a column for Animals & Men and a regular segment on On The Track... particularly about out-of-place birds and rare vagrants. There seem to be more and more bird stories from all over the world hitting the news these days so, to make room for them all - and to give them all equal and worthy coverage - she has set up this new blog to cover all things feathery and Fortean.

Thursday 7 July 2016

North Yorkshire Police: wrong not to charge man who set illegal Mossdale bird traps

Bob Smith, Editor
Wednesday 06 July 2016 07:56 PM GMT

Police have said they made a mistake in only issuing a caution to a man who admitted setting three illegal traps for birds of prey in the Yorkshire Dales.

But the North Yorkshire force said the junior gamekeeper will not face further action, despite criticism of the original decision by a conservation group.

North Yorkshire Police said it had reviewed the decision by officers not to pursue the case in court and admitted it had not followed guidelines. However, the Crown Prosecution Service decided it would not take any further action.

The 23-year-old man from the Hawes area was covertly filmed by Royal Society for the Protection of Birds investigators, resetting pole traps on the Mossdale Estate on the flanks of Widdale Fell.

The RSPB was critical of the police decision to issue a simple caution for the offence. The traps, which snap shut on a bird’s legs, have been outlawed for more than 100 years. A hen harrier was spotted in the area where the traps had been placed.

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