Thank you for the warm welcome and all your responses. I will update you on what’s happened in the last two days in a moment.
Tigger – That was my first step to contact the council, I’m sorry to read that you’ve suffered vandalism and hope the police presence has deterred the vandals permanently for you.
KML – There certainly weren’t any signs put up and that is what I would have expected to of seen had some controlled shooting been taken place or even a notice displayed in advance of such a circumstance.
NickCantle – As your balanced response depicts it would be worrying for some, meeting characters such as the ones I saw. However I knew that I wasn’t 100% sure of legalities of carrying such a weapon and being an outdoor hobbyist I felt it only fair to look into such issues before blowing the whistle.
Muggsy – That is the flip side of the coin and is the kind of thing that I wanted to be sure against by looking into things first and not making any rushed decisions.
VinceS – I’m not so sure if our local police would have a wildlife officer as it’s not what I would call the countryside, but it’s certainly worth asking the next police official I speak with.
Seamusagleann – I was carful to ensure that I jotted down everything I could remember when I returned home straight after the event and added anything I’ve since remembered.
Ok so onto reporting what has happened today. I obtained the contact number for the head warden that controls the area, but had to leave a message as the call was not answered. Very shortly after leaving the message the warden returned my call with an alarmed and concerned tone perceived in his voice. I explained what I have mentioned in my opening post on this thread and he took note of these details whilst thanking me for my concise and accurate notes. He explained that yes pest control does take place on the some 1100 acres under his control, but it is predominantly undertaken by him and his team which has not been recently around the times that I have seen these people. When it has been carried out, it has been usually carried out around the witching hour onwards, where human activity is almost non existent to ensure safety and minimal alarm.
From what I described the warden was sure that the people were in his words ‘armed trespassing’ and that with that breed of dog they were probably after
Rabbits, although he was very concerned about the
Badger set located close to where I saw these characters. I tried to re-assure him that I’d seen a pair of
Badgers at the set two days previously (after finding the entrails) so was confident they had not been the target of these people’s actions. The warden still decided that a visit to the area tomorrow would be in order to settle his mind and he urged me to report it to the police, he said that he would report the incident too, through his liaison officer, but it would be better if I also did it separately. His parting words were that if I should ever see them again, I should almost certainly ring the police and himself straight away whilst being careful not to endanger myself at all.
It was refreshing to talk with a like minded individual who was very professional yet easy to talk with. I quickly rung the local police who weren’t as amiable as they were a little perplexed as to why it took 48 hours to report this incident to them. After explaining my chain of thought and how I went about this, they began to understand, although they said that next time I should just call them to do the ‘asking questions part’ as it wouldn’t have been a waste of their time – oh well I know for next time now. The police official I spoke with took down all the details and said that they would pass it on immediately to their intelligence officer, who would then most likely contact me to discuss it a little further.
So that is really the long and short of this and brings you all up to date so far; rest assured, if there is any further progress or news I shall update here accordingly.
Thanks for reading.
Sam