A squirrel was found ‘alive, screaming and clearly in pain and distress’ in October (Pictures: SWNS)
A pensioner who drowned grey squirrels, and later had them shot, has been fined.
David Farrow was reported to the RSPCA after neighbours spotted him capturing the rodents in traps.
Inspector Tamsin Drysdale visited his bungalow in Doncaster, South Yorkshire, last June.
The 71-year-old explained he had used fenn spring traps, legal under the Pest Acts 1954, to catch squirrels which had caused problems in his loft.
But Farrow also told Ms Drysdale how he then drowned the animals in a water butt after catching them.
He was then issued with a written statement, explaining that this was illegal.
Ms Drysdale told Doncaster Magistrates Court: ‘He said he wasn’t aware of this and that he would now dispatch them with an air rifle.
‘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.’
Farrow claimed the squirrels had been causing problems in his loft (Picture: RSPCA/SWNS)
Ms Drysdale visited Farrow again two weeks later, and was told he was no longer drowning the creatures he caught.
The pensioner was issued with instructions on how to legally use fenn spring traps legally – by ensuring they had an artificial tunnel attached.
But when inspectors returned to Farrow’s home again in October, they found a critically-injured squirrel dangling from its leg.
Ms Drysdale said: ‘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.’
Farrow trapped the squirrels beause he saw them as pests who caused issued in his loft (Picture: SWNS)
A veterinary surgeon told the court one of the animal’s front legs had been crushed by the trap and he would have been in ‘considerable pain.’
Farrow insisted that he checked the traps twice daily and would have dispatched the squirrel much earlier if he had known it was there.
He also claimed he was unaware of the trap requirements and was trying to control the local squirrel population because they caused problems in his loft.
In court this week, Farrow pleaded guilty to one offence of causing unnecessary suffering to a squirrel under the Animal Welfare Act 2006.
He also admitted using a fenn trap in circumstances for which it was not approved for.
Farrow was fined £160 and told him his actions were incompetent, but were not those of ‘someone looking to deliberately ill-treat the animals’.
It also stressed that, as the pensioner was now living in a bedsit without access to outdoor space, that he was unlikely to have an opportunity to continue similar behaviour.
He was told to pay a £34 victim surcharge and £100 court costs.
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WARNING: GRAPHIC IMAGES.