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Keeper fined for buzzard death

Jonathan Graham was fined £450 and banned from using cage-traps for five years

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By Will Finch

Saturday, 07 July 2012

Gamekeeper pleads guilty to causing the death of a buzzard

A Perthshire gamekeeper has pleaded guilty to causing the death of a buzzard, after it starved to death in a cage-trap he had set for crows.

30-year-old Jonathan Graham, a keeper on the Glen Lyon estate, admitted at Perth Sheriff Court to failing to inspect the trap every 24 hours as he was obliged to do, leading to the bird’s death.

After the buzzard became trapped, he used a bucket to keep the cage door ajar, but failed to open the door enough for the bird to escape, the court heard. Sheriff Robert McCreadie said: “This case involved a dereliction of duty to wild birds. You did not act as a reasonably competent gamekeeper. The buzzard has been endangered and is only now making its way back from relentless persecution.

The rest of this article appears in the 4th July issue of Shooting Times.

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