A pensioner has been prosecuted by the RSPCA for torturing squirrels by capturing and drowning them. David Farrow, 71, pleaded guilty to one offence of causing unnecessary suffering to a squirrel under the Animal Welfare Act 2006.
He also admitted using a fenn trap in circumstances for which it was not approved for. Fenn traps are designed to catch and kill small vermin, they should be set in an artificial tunnel and a person is guilty of an offence under the Pest Acts 1954 if they do not do that.
Farrow was reported to the RSPCA by several people for trapping and drowning grey squirrels at his former home in Doncaster, South Yorks,. He said he’d used Fenn traps to catch the squirrels because they were pests, even though he was told the manner in which he was trapping them was unlawful.
RSPCA inspector Tamsin Drysdale visited Farrow’s bungalow in June last year where Farrow showed her a humane trap he had set up to capture the squirrels. He also explained that after he had captured them, he drowned them in a water butt.
Inspector Dysdale said in a written statement presented to the court that she explained to Farrow that although his trap was legal, the drowning of squirrels was an offence. She said: “He said he wasn’t aware of this and that he would now dispatch them with an air rifle.
“He then said that he would get his nephew to kill them with a shotgun. I got the impression that he was not taking the situation seriously.”
Two weeks later the inspector paid another visit to Farrow’s bungalow with a police officer when he told them he was still trapping squirrels, but not drowning them. He was told to stop his actions, but when inspectors paid a further visit in October last year they found a critically-injured squirrel dangling in a fenn trap.
The animal was put to sleep by one of the inspectors to end his suffering. Inspector Drysdale said: “The squirrel was hanging by its front leg from the trap, which was suspended with rope from the roof of the lean-to.
"The squirrel was alive, screaming and clearly in pain and distress." A veterinary surgeon told the court that one of the squirrel’s front legs had been crushed by the trap and he would have been in 'considerable pain.'
In mitigation, the court was told Farrow checked the traps twice daily and it was said had he known the animal was there he would have despatched it much earlier. He claimed he was unaware of the trap requirements and was trying to control the local squirrel population because they caused problems in his loft.
Doncaster Magistrates Court fined Farrow £160 and told him his actions were incompetent, but were not those of 'someone looking to deliberately ill-treat the animals'. He was also told to pay a £34 victim surcharge and £100 court costs.
They also said as Farrow was now living in a bedsit without access to outdoor space he was unlikely to have an opportunity to continue this type of behaviour.
