shooting... punishment?

[Lindsay-c]

True story - There aren't many countryside type areas around where I live, it's very urban, which I hate (apart from a field and small forest nearby except it's filled with horrid youths and... well not very nice men...) but I found a lovely place about 3-4 miles away, by the riverside which I used to walked to every now and again (and still do). It has a nice big area of grassland with a pond and small lake where the bulls are often kept and a small forest and there are deer and woodpecker and all sorts. Only the train track ruins it a bit.
Last year my friend went bike riding over there and went to the lake to see the new cygnets. A dogwalker came along and asked if she'd heard about the swans and she responded with "why, what's happened?". He told her he was walking his dog the previous day and he saw the police beside the lake and saw some bodies of the swans. He discovered that two youngish lads had shot them all with their air rifles I was mortified. Every time i visited after that the lake seemed so empty. Places like that never stay nice for long when certain humans come about.

But this year there were new swans there which I was very pleased about.

I was just wondering if those boys had of been caught (assuming they weren't) what kind of punishment may they have got? - if any at all and nothing near what they deserve i would imagine

[Synn]

The two resident 10+year old swans and their five cygnets in our village were one year beaten by yobs.

They were rescued by an animal charity but died of the injuries caused.

The people that did it were never caught.

A new pair set up residence, but now the female has died, by lead poisoning we think.

[healfdan]

Sadly an all to familiar story. When I was a conservation officer in the London area we lost a pair of swans that had been blasted with a shotgun. The RSPCA confirmed this by the large number of pellets removed from the dead birds. A couple of years later, one of a pair that had successfully reared young was killed by a crossow bolt. The only evidence we found at the time was a crossbow bolt in the shallows and two wings found discarded in the woods. A week or two later a local publican was asked if he wanted to buy a dressed swan. Lots of evidence but no witnesses and the culprits on both occasions were never caught.

[moozy]

[quote=Lindsay-c;
I was just wondering if those boys had of been caught (assuming they weren't) what kind of punishment may they have got? - if any at all and nothing near what they deserve i would imagine [/QUOTE]

If you tell me which lake it was Lindsey I will get back to you,
Theres lots of places to go in and around Newcastle to see wildlife, if you need help I will be point you in the right direction on where to go and what to see.

[moozy]

teenagers have been charged in connection with the slaying of a family of swans.

The 17-year-olds will face charges of killing a wild bird, possessing an air weapon in a public place and having ammunition for an air weapon in a public place. The duo were arrested after a family of swans were found shot dead at a pond in Ryton, Gateshead.

Police were called to Ryton Willows pond at 7.20pm on Thursday after a member of the public spotted the dead bodies of four cygnets and an adult swan floating in the water.

A second adult was also injured but is now at a bird sanctuary bird sanctuary: see wildlife refuge. in Berwick.

A spokesman for Northumbria Police Northumbria Police is the Home Office police force responsible for policing the areas of Northumberland and Tyne and Wear in England. The service is the sixth largest police constabulary in England or Wales. As of April 2005, the current Chief Constable is Mike Craik. said: "Two boys, both 17, have been charged with killing a wild bird, contrary to sections 1.1 and 21 of the Wildlife and Countryside Act.

"They have both also been charged with possessing an air weapon in a public place, and having ammunition for an air weapon in a public place.

"The female adult swan, which survived the incident, has been treated by vets for a pellet gun a gun that fires small pellets, less than 3 mm diameter, usually made of metal.

See also: Pellet wound, and is due to be released into the River Tweed soon." The deaths sickened visitors to the nature reserve who had been watching fondly as the baby birds grew. Passing members of the public were reduced to tears as the distressed and injured bird was removed from the water. RSPCA RSPCA (in Britain) Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals

RSPCA n abbr (Brit) (= Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals) → SPA f

inspector Claire

Hunt said: "We were called by the police and when we arrived we found a family of two adult swans and four cygnets.

"One of the adults was injured and had blood on its head and chest. The other adult and cygnets were dead. All the people who were walking past were in tears. The community had been watching the cygnets grow." The teenagers have been released on bail and are to appear before Blaydon Youth Court next week..


<a href="http://www.thefreelibrary.com/Two+youths+charged+over+the+killing+of+swans-a0201262292">Two youths charged over the killing of swans.</a>

[Cowgirl]

That's horrible, it makes me ashamed to be a member of the human race. Poor swans.

[moozy]

I agree cowgirl, it's disgusting what these so called humans are capable of, if I had my way best not say on this great site.

[rossy]

glad they have caught the culprits, and hope they get punished big time, and make an example of them , to deter other mindless morons from commiting something similar, makes me wonder if their parents knew they had an air rifle ? rossy,

[tcvarlh]

Last year at Lifford Res, Brum, two ?people? set their Rottweiler onto a sitting pen and it tore her and the three small cygnets to pieces, there were anglers on the Res. and they caught these two items and possibly thumped 'em a bit. Police arrived, took the dog away (it was destroyed, poor dog), arrested everyone, let the dog owners off with a caution and bailed the anglers to appear. Moral of the story: if you are going to sort someone out near water, make certain they don't float.
h

[Farplace]

Shame about the dog... It was only doing what it had been trained to do.