Pensioner found guilty of illegally trapping and drowning squirrels at Doncaster home

David Farrow, 71, of Thorne Road, Doncaster, was sentenced at Doncaster Magistrates’ Court on September 29.

He had pleaded guilty to one offence of causing unnecessary suffering to a squirrel under the Animal Welfare Act 2006, while he also admitted using a Fenn trap in circumstances for which it was not approved for.

Farrow was reported to the RSPCA by several people for trapping and drowning grey squirrels at his former home at Ranworth Close in Cusworth.

He said he’d used Fenn traps to catch the squirrels because they were pests, even though he was told the manner in which he was trapping them was unlawful.

RSPCA inspector Tamsin Drysdale visited Farrow’s bungalow on June 27 last year where the defendant showed her a humane trap he had set up in a lean-to.

Farrow explained he took the ensnared squirrels and drowned them in a water butt.

Inspector Dysdale said in a written statement presented to the court that she explained to Farrow that although his trap was legal, the drowning of squirrels was an offence.

“He said he wasn’t aware of this and that he would now dispatch them with an air rifle,” said the inspector. “He then said that he would get his nephew to kill them with a shotgun. I got the impression that he was not taking the situation seriously.”

Two weeks later the inspector paid another visit to Farrow’s bungalow with a police officer when he told them he was still trapping squirrels, but not drowning them.

He was told to stop his actions, but when RSPCA inspectors paid a further visit on October 15 last year a critically-injured squirrel was found dangling in a Fenn trap. The animal was put to sleep by one of the inspectors to end his suffering.

“The squirrel was hanging by its front leg from the trap, which was suspended with rope from the roof of the lean-to. The squirrel was alive, screaming and clearly in pain and distress,” said inspector Drysdale.

An expert report presented to the court by a veterinary surgeon said one of the squirrel’s front legs had been crushed by the trap and he would have been in “considerable pain”.

Fenn traps should be set in an artificial or natural tunnel and a person is guilty of an offence under the Pest Acts 1954 if they do not do so.

In mitigation, the court was told Farrow checked the traps twice daily and it was said had he known the animal was there he would have despatched it much earlier. He claimed he was unaware of the trap requirements and was trying to control the local squirrel population because they caused problems in his loft.

Magistrates fined Farrow £160 and told him his actions were incompetent, but were not those of “someone looking to deliberately ill-treat the animals”.

They said as he was now living in a bedsit without access to outdoor space he was unlikely to have an opportunity to continue this type of behaviour.

Farrow was also told to pay a £34 victim surcharge and £100 court costs.

The RSPCA is opposed to the manufacture, sale and use of all snares and any trap which causes suffering. The animal welfare charity believes snares are cruel and indiscriminate in what they catch. About 40% of snared animals are not the intended target species and sometimes pets such as cats are caught in them.