Gamekeeper sentenced following animal deaths

Border
Scottish Borders
wildlife
gamekeeper
Monday 19 August 2019 at 3:02pm

Wilson pleaded guilty to nine offences, including possession of illegal pesticides. Credit: ITV Border

The Scottish SPCA have described the killing of protected animals at an estate in the Scottish Borders as "truly shocking".

Gamekeeper Alan Wilson, 61, today pleaded guilty to nine offences which took place at the Longformacus Estate close to Duns.

Police inquiries began two years ago when a member of the public found a dead goshawk. Subsequent searches lead to the recovery of bodies of other animals, including various birds of prey, three badgers and an otter.

Detective Constable Andy Loughlin who lead the police inquiry said:

Wilson, who also pleaded guilty to possession of the illegal pesticide Carbofuran, was sentenced to a 225 hours Community Payback Order at Jedburgh Sheriff Court.

Wilson was gamekeeper at the Longformacus Estate close to Duns. Credit: ITV Border

This is a despicable case of serious and systematic crimes to indiscriminately remove wildlife from an estate. The sheer volume of dead wildlife discovered is truly shocking. Some of the equipment in Mr. Wilson’s possession has been unlawful for decades yet it was evident it had been recently used to trap wild animals. The illegally set snares across the estate he was managing would have trapped wild animals indiscriminately and the remains discovered were proof of that. This amounted to large-scale eradication of wildlife. We will never know the total number of animals which perished due to Mr. Wilson, though had it not been for the robust intervention of Police Scotland, the Scottish SPCA and our other partner agencies, many more would have suffered and perished.

The police urge people to report any suspicions of this type of criminal activity to them via 101.