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The Irish Wildlife Trust (IWT) is disappointed to learn that in a recent wildlife crime court case a successful conviction for the destruction of a badger sett was altered on appeal to the Dublin Circuit Criminal Court. The court applied the Probation Act and ordered the perpetrator to make a charity donation, in doing so the perpetrator avoided receiving a criminal record despite being found guilty of a significant crime under the Wildlife Act. The IWT who were one of the court ordered recipients of this donation, to the sum of €5,000, have declined the donation due to the circumstance of this case.
IWT General Manager, Kieran Flood said that “At a time when nature is under huge pressure from significant habitat loss and damage we need our courts to be tough on wildlife crime and send a signal to would-be perpetrators that if found guilty they will face a full conviction for their crimes including a criminal record. IWT reserves the right to refuse donations and in this case we are choosing not to accept this donation.”
The IWT are in support of the National Parks and Wildlife Service’s (NPWS) stated concern that the decision of the court could be viewed as a message that a person could “buy their way out of a conviction”. The NPWS barrister stated that a conviction is more beneficial “because it sends out a message”.
The court heard evidence from Kieran Buckley, an officer of the National Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS), that the badger sett in question had been covered in “trunks of trees and many, many tonnes of clay, which basically entombed the badgers”.
This is a serious wildlife crime. The Irish Wildlife Trust would like to see the full weight of the law being used by courts in wildlife crime cases in order to send a clear message that the Irish court system values nature and is willing to play their part in stopping rampant wildlife crime and environmental destruction in Ireland.
CONTACT: media@iwt.ie
Featured image photo credit: Mike Brown
More information on this case has been published here: