An animal welfare group says the “lenient” sentence handed to a terrierman for digging up a Fife badger sett is “little deterrent” against wildlife crime.
Former gamekeeper Dylan Boyle was convicted on two charges of interfering with the habitat following a trial at Kirkcaldy Sheriff Court last year.
Following a deferral, the 51-year-old was fined £400 after a sheriff heard he had been of good behaviour.
However, Sheriff Mark Allen added he was “relieved” to hear Boyle no longer works in the industry.
Robbie Marsland, director of Scotland and Northern Ireland for League Against Cruel Sports, slammed the sentence as too soft.
He said: “Despite Scotland having some of the strongest animal welfare legislation in the UK, the courts too often issue modest penalties for wildlife crimes.
“Mr. Boyle’s actions demonstrated wanton cruelty and a disregard for the law but sentences like this provide little deterrent to those who harm wildlife.
“If we are serious about protecting Scotland’s wildlife, meaningful penalties that reflect the severity of these crimes are required to serve as a deterrent.
“While this case should remind those who harm wildlife that our cameras are everywhere, it should also prompt a serious reconsideration of how our justice system responds to animal cruelty.”
Boyle, of Avonbridge near Falkirk, had been filmed by the League Against Cruel Sports (LACS) carrying out the illegal actions at a farm at Letham, near Cupar, on January 10 last year.
Footage shown in court showed him climbing over a wire fence from the field to a sloping bank before placing netting across the site.
The following day the site was visited by an ecologist and it was discovered that a number of sett entrances had been blocked with soil and rocks.
Boyle claimed experts has misidentified a fox hole, with badgers moving into the site overnight after he had been filmed.
Iain Batho, who leads on wildlife and environmental crime for the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service (COPFS), said: “Badgers are given strict protection by law and it is a criminal offence to interfere with a badger sett either intentionally or recklessly.
“Dylan Boyle’s actions were deliberate and carried out with a total disregard for the consequences they could have for a protected species.
“COPFS takes offences under the Protection of Badgers Act 1992 seriously and action will be taken against individuals where there is sufficient evidence of a crime and where it is in the public interest to do so.”
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