dr_nick Posted May 18, 2006 Report Share Posted May 18, 2006 Basically a guy was fed up with constant Seagul problems, Attacks, poo, noise. Got himself a licence, shot the bird with an air rifle, and hung it up in a tree to scare the other birds off. Got himself in trouble and was successfully procecuted. The district councillor - and member of the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds - was reported to the RSPCA which decided to prosecute. Yesterday Dr Boughton - father of Radio One DJ Emma B - found himself in court charged with illegally killing a seagull contrary to the Wildlife and Countryside Act. He was found guilty and given a conditional discharge. Last night he was unrepentant and considering an appeal after spending 12 years battling the birds at his harbour-side home. Dr Boughton's determination to wage war on seagulls is well-known in the yachting resort of Dartmouth, South Devon. He stood for the council on an anti-gull manifesto and is founder of the Dartmouth Action Group Against Gulls. He campaigned for gull-proof bins and bin bags, by-laws to stop tourists feeding them, and called in pest controllers to get rid of nests on the town's hospital. So when the gulls came even closer to home he was horrified. A group took up residence in his roof. The nesting herring gulls disrupted his sleep, scavenged in bins and left his home and car covered with filth. Magistrates at Totnes, South Devon, heard how when they left and another pair arrived he tried to shoo them away before pelting them with stones. Distress calls He even installed a tape playing gull distress calls but these measures provided only temporary relief. The gulls were becoming more aggressive, bombing him and his wife Elizabeth. The crunch came when a bird flew past the couple's open window as they ate, sending muck into the doctor's hair and clothes and littering Mrs Boughton's salad. With his two-year-old granddaughter Eva about to come and stay, and fearing she could be infected by the droppings, he consulted the wildlife officer at the local police station. He got a copy of a general licence from the Department for Environment Farming and Rural Affairs - which allows the public to kill some wild birds under certain conditions - and shot the gull with an air rifle. But he was reported after he hung it on an apple tree in his half-acre garden. The court was told that under the terms of the Defra licence he was only entitled to shoot the bird if it was a threat to public health and if there was no other way of dealing with it. Paul Taylor, prosecuting for the RSPCA, said: 'Dr Boughton was not acting in the interests of public health and safety, but was motivated by annoyance and a general desire to reduce the seagull population.' Dr Boughton, who believes his family have suffered gastroenteritis as a result of the droppings, said: 'Public health should include mental as well as physical health. The noise is so bad some bed and breakfasts have been forced to close. 'It is a scene of medieval squalor. There was a great swathe of droppings along the front of the property and the gulls attacked me personally. One of their methods was to bomb me with faeces.' Fellow councillor Hilary Bastone said he was astonished the case went to court. 'The fact that he had gone through the right channels and ended up in this situation is a bit of a disgrace,' he said. 'In this part of the world seagulls are like rats with wings - they are pests.' Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Theskyfox Posted May 18, 2006 Report Share Posted May 18, 2006 That is soo stupid in my opinion, he suffers mental and physical problems because of these vermin and it goes to court and HE gets prosecuted? Makes me die...you can hijack a plane and fly it into the country and get off free, but shoot a seagull and get prosecuted. I think he would have been ok if he had used some common sense and not hung the gull in the tree.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hunter Posted May 18, 2006 Report Share Posted May 18, 2006 I seriously doubt you can get off a hijacked plane free nowdays. Not after 9/11.. infact you would be shot down before you even made it accross another country.. I dont get one thing though.. He bought the licence to shoot them, so why did they prosecute them? he did everything what seems normal.. removing pests, paid licence.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Natures_son Posted May 18, 2006 Report Share Posted May 18, 2006 I seriously doubt you can get off a hijacked plane free nowdays. Not after 9/11.. infact you would be shot down before you even made it accross another country.. I dont get one thing though.. He bought the licence to shoot them, so why did they prosecute them? he did everything what seems normal.. removing pests, paid licence.. Then what about these arabic ******** who hijacked a plane at gun point forced the pilots to land at stanstead. They were then arrested served a short jail sentence and were going to be deported when their sentence was over. Instead the judges decided we were being to hard on them and granted them permission to stay in the uk. I would of hung the b******ds Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dr_nick Posted May 18, 2006 Author Report Share Posted May 18, 2006 You don't even have to pay for the licence, you download it and pint it out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lancs Lad Posted May 18, 2006 Report Share Posted May 18, 2006 You don't even have to pay for the licence, you download it and pint it out. Sorry but the blokes a ****** for doing it the way that he did............Shot it,,,then hung it in an apple tree..... Whats that supposed to do.................... Someone obviously didnt like the fact that it was in the tree and reported him for it......... Anyone see the LIFE OF GRIME episode the other night with the council shooting the eggs of the seaguls....... Can shoot the bird,,,,,shoot its eggs... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ferret Master Posted May 18, 2006 Report Share Posted May 18, 2006 Hi, No I didn't. Will it be repeated on BBC 3 or in 3 years on UKTV people? FM Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
magman Posted May 18, 2006 Report Share Posted May 18, 2006 I seriously doubt you can get off a hijacked plane free nowdays. Not after 9/11.. infact you would be shot down before you even made it accross another country.. I dont get one thing though.. He bought the licence to shoot them, so why did they prosecute them? he did everything what seems normal.. removing pests, paid licence.. Then what about these arabic ******** who hijacked a plane at gun point forced the pilots to land at stanstead. They were then arrested served a short jail sentence and were going to be deported when their sentence was over. Instead the judges decided we were being to hard on them and granted them permission to stay in the uk. I would of hung the b******ds hear hear Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Theskyfox Posted May 18, 2006 Report Share Posted May 18, 2006 Yeah I saw it too, was a good program, I think he was using a Brocock Hunter and an Independent by the looks of it, I could be wrong (on the life of grime). And yeah ure right, the way the guy hung the bird into the tree was disgraceful...so much for professionalism in the field. Makes the rest of us look bad. -Andrew Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cranfield Posted May 18, 2006 Report Share Posted May 18, 2006 http://forums.pigeonwatch.co.uk/forums/ind...showtopic=18451 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
killer rabbit (r1000) Posted May 19, 2006 Report Share Posted May 19, 2006 That is soo stupid in my opinion, he suffers mental and physical problems because of these vermin and it goes to court and HE gets prosecuted? Makes me die...you can hijack a plane and fly it into the country and get off free, but shoot a seagull and get prosecuted. I think he would have been ok if he had used some common sense and not hung the gull in the tree.... i totally agree... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
killer rabbit (r1000) Posted May 19, 2006 Report Share Posted May 19, 2006 Most of you will remember the recent (and not so recent) posts about shooting seagulls. This chap installed a tape playing seagull distress noises , he consulted a Wildlife Officer at his local Police Station, he got a copy of the general licence from Defra, he shot the bird with an air rifle in his own half acre garden. He was found guilty of illegally killing a seagull contrary to the Wildlife and Countryside Act. "The Court was told that under the terms of the Defra licence, he was only entitled to shoot the bird if it was a threat to public health and there was no other way of dealing with it". (Daily Mail) The prosecution was brought by the RSPCA. Although he was given a conditional discharge, I would suggest that this case shows that there are almost no circumstances where it is "safe" to shoot a seagull, even though it is on the general licence. I hope the RSPCA (why not the RSPB ?) don't use this case to start attacking the shooting of other birds on the general licence. :o if he shot the bird on his own "private" land, how could it be a threat to public health? all due respect, he did try everything else, but if he'd shot it on public land (where it would be a "threat to public health"), wouldn't he be in a lot more trouble? (& where does this leave for people like us to shoot?) :o on the other hand, hanging the dead bird in a tree??? ok, i see his logic, but wouldn't it attract a lot of carrion-eaters? (some of which can also cause a lot of damage as well as being a health risk!) :o ok, i don't agree with the charges made, but he did ask for it by showcasing a dead bird & having a large set of brass balls to do so... i also hope the RSPCA, RSPB or anyone else use this as a lever to impose more restrictions upon us, don't we have enough already? :yp: edited to remove an illegal entry, sorry guys! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.