It's a good job we and our neighbours are not in UK.
We've killed pigeons, and eaten them, we kill chickens for the table, one of our other neighbours kills rabbits for the table (raised for the table) and if I had the time I'd catch, hunt, shoot our wild rabbits.
Our other neighbour has brought us some ducks and pheasants when he's had a good day's hunting.
I suspect the chasseurs are out today after foxes. Good job too 'cos quite a few of us have chickens.
Mind you this "poacher" was lucky, a hundred years ago, he would have been hanged and a few decades ago he would have been on a boat to Australia.
The method of killing is neither here no there, despite the Mail's description of "horrific beheading" and "cut off the head so it the body would fit in his bag"
. In fact, it's as good as any other when dealing with poultry, but wild animals are protected in UK.
This was just another story for the Mail to sell papers and unfortunately, it's given ammunition to those who are prepared to adopt any cause, however slight, for the purpose of furthering their own agenda.
What is clear, I think, is that this man killed a bird for the table. He didn't treat it particularly cruelly, he didn't intend to act in a cruel fashion. He simply despatched it quickly and humanely for the table and unfortunately fell foul, (or should that be "fowl"
) of the "Killing a Wild Bird" law.
Indeed, if this was a poultry-keeper killing one of his geese or turkeys for the table there would have been no story and it would have been perfectly legitimate.
I suspect that this law was originally intended to deter the egg and wild bird collectors. The person concerned possibly does want to return to Turkey thinking that they're all completely bonkers in the UK. It's pobably the only country in the world where you're not allowed to catch your own dinner.
The prisons in France, and I suspect most countries, would be full of hunters, if there were a similar situation here. Additionally, most poultry, rabbits, etc would be off the menu and the growing of crops would be severly affected, because all the wild animals would be growing fat and lazy.
There might even be another revolution.
Get real. There's a world of difference in being cruel to animals and killing them for food.
