Pensioner convicted for shooting squirrel with air rifle.

Just read the mail. Have to agree no sympathy at all. The animal suffered and he may want to up grade his air rifle.
 
what on earth kind of air gun did he use
Just missed anything vital.
Agree, no sympathy for not killing it before going out though...
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IMO The safest method of disposing of a live caught Rat or Grey Squirrel is to take it to your local RSPCA centre for them to deal with. Under no circumstances release a Grey Squirrel once caught, to do so without prior authority from Natural England is an offence. atb Tim
 
I was working for an old lady once, I noticed her bird table had a few air rifle pellets embedded in it, I asked her about it and she said she had shot 76 squirrels in the last 3 years! she was 78... Good on her I say.

She must have been a much better shot than this guy. If you can't kill it while its in a cage you are doing something very wrong.
 
I was working for an old lady once, I noticed her bird table had a few air rifle pellets embedded in it, I asked her about it and she said she had shot 76 squirrels in the last 3 years! she was 78... Good on her I say.

She must have been a much better shot than this guy. If you can't kill it while its in a cage you are doing something very wrong.

Yeah, they don't exactly sit still and wait for it in the trap...
 
If the S410 took more than 1 pellet to knock 'em over Id be worried. I get red squirrels and the odd grey here. No mercy on the greys. The chief kitchen mechanic insists on putting monkey nuts out for the squirrels......I reckon the jays have taken every one of them :)
 
took a few in my time, and will continue to do so.... he should have done a proper job on this no sympathy.

hate them with a passion,

but im all smiles down Bournemouth's city gardens with the wife and kids.

bob.
 
To be fair to the old guy, squirrels do 'play dead' so he could have easily thought it was dead the first time, and when he got back and realised it was still alive, shot it again a few times to 'be sure', it then was 'alive but unresponsive' so, looked dead ? I've had the lurcher bring a rabbit back before, thrown it in the back of the disco, and an hour later, the bloody thing started running around, looked dead to me, but clearly was 'alive but unresponsive' till it came round.
I must admit, I shoot any captured squirrels, foxes etc with the .22lr, then poke them in the eye to be sure, those squirrels have a nasty bite on them. If I believed it dead, I certainly wouldn't be sticking my hand in there to pull them out without checking first.
 
Iam amazed at some of the comments,havnt any of you lost a deer when you think you have hit it right ??? what about pricked games birds,i suspose you all kill them with 1 shot and none get away to die slowly.come on guys take your rose tinted specs off,anyone that kills a living animal is going to make a mistake and cause suffering at some point,as its been said squirrel play dead and I cant see one living after 5 pellets at point blank
 
I don't really have much sympathy for this chap. He should definitely have done his SSC level1 before taking on such difficult quarry. The law should not allow the use of such low powered weaponry to take squirrels. 20 bore minimum, preferably 12 bore!
Also he should have had a specialist dog trained to help with this kind of shooting.
I use a Cornish Wire-haired Mountain Squirrel Hound Terrier (CWHMSHT) to follow up wounded squirrels and he can actually run down and kill a fully grown squirrel!
I started training him on squirrel cleaves when he was 5 days old and now he can follow a 72hr old scent trail for over 2.5km in 3ft of snow!
 
IMO The safest method of disposing of a live caught Rat or Grey Squirrel is to take it to your local RSPCA centre for them to deal with. Under no circumstances release a Grey Squirrel once caught, to do so without prior authority from Natural England is an offence. atb Tim

A waste of time.
They will only release it somewhere else to annoy another person.

I had a visit from the RSPCA a few days ago.
Some ignorant lame-brained pratt had called them to say that my aviary birds were not being kept correctly.
It was shortly after 3 PM and I had everything locked up.
We went to my garden where he saw my 5 nine-foot aviaries and I opened up the birdroom.
He filled in the 11 questions on his report sheet, giving me 11 `YES` ticks for good management and husbandry.
He refused to divulge the source of the complaint.
His lot spent over £350,000 prosecuting someone for chasing foxes with hounds
Funny world we live in !

HWH.
 
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I don't really have much sympathy for this chap. He should definitely have done his SSC level1 before taking on such difficult quarry. The law should not allow the use of such low powered weaponry to take squirrels. 20 bore minimum, preferably 12 bore!
Also he should have had a specialist dog trained to help with this kind of shooting.
I use a Cornish Wire-haired Mountain Squirrel Hound Terrier (CWHMSHT) to follow up wounded squirrels and he can actually run down and kill a fully grown squirrel!
I started training him on squirrel cleaves when he was 5 days old and now he can follow a 72hr old scent trail for over 2.5km in 3ft of snow!
:rofl:
 
That's an air sporter. More than enough to kill a squirrel, especially at close range. I'd imagine it's an old gun, still on original spring, probably left cocked for long periods, so not running anywhere near full power.

That said, it only takes one ft.lb of energy to kill a rabbit. A squirrel skull is slightly thicker maybe, but one in the skull should do it.

He was just very unlucky not to hit something vital.

It makes me laugh that the vet stated "he should have taken it to a clinic to be put down"

What a pillock!

Any half decent vet would realise that approaching it, putting it in the car, travelling an indeterminate distance and then handling the animal would be far more stressful than a shot with an air rifle. His mistake was not making sure, but squirrels play dead as someone said, so maybe he didn't know.

Total waste of time and money IMHO.
 
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