By CHRIS BROOKE
A company director was fined yesterday for shooting a swan he thought was a goose.
Spotting four birds in the sky during a shoot, Simon Quince fired both barrels of his shotgun and one of the creatures fell to the ground.
Quince, 36, quickly realised he had made a mistake and shot a juvenile mute swan – which is protected by law. The severely injured bird was taken to a vet but had to be put down.
At Harrogate Magistrates’ Court yesterday, Quince admitted causing criminal damage to a swan.
He also made legal history by becoming the first person in the UK to be prosecuted for using banned lead shot on a bird.
Father of two Quince, of Barnsley, was fined £445 for shooting the swan and £100 for using lead shot. He was also ordered to pay £100 costs.
The director of an electrical firm was one of nine guns on a shoot at Minskip, near Knaresborough, North Yorkshire, last December when the incident happened.
Geoff Rogers, defending, said Quince was embarrassed and regretted what had happened. He had not shot since the incident and had had several sleepless nights.
Quince, who has had a shotgun licence for three years, was not experienced and this mistake had been a lesson for him, the court heard.
Mr Rogers said: ‘There was no intention by him to shoot a swan. It was a spur-of-the-moment thing caused in part by a lack of experience. He thought it was a goose.’
The 1999 Environmental Protection Regulations banned the shooting of swans, ducks, geese and certain other birds with lead shot. The aim was to protect rare birds that ingest stray shot with the grit they swallow to aid digestion.
In the UK, tens of thousands of birds are estimated to be poisoned by lead every year.
The court heard that during the investigation, Quince had told police he did not know he should not have been using lead shot.
After the case, Jeff Knott, of the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds, said: ‘Game shooters should use steel or a metal composite shot, but many are reluctant to do so.’
Link: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1387719/Company-director-fined-killing-swan-mistook-goose.html#ixzz1MhOjQmoc
