Dog walking defence doesn't wash for hunting pair
TWO Cumbrian men, who claimed to be innocent dog walkers, have been found guilty of deliberately hunting foxes and badgers on farmland near Langholm in Scotland.
A sherriff also found 30 year old Ryan Lowe from Carlisle, and 40 year old Brian Sanderson from Shap guilty of being in possession of items capable of being used for an offence contrary to the Protection of Badgers Act.
The pair were found not guilty of another charge of approaching a badger sett with the dogs, disturbing entrances and causing a dog to enter the sett.
The men told the court during the three day trial that they were only out walking their dogs at Effgill at Westerkirk last May.
They will be sentenced next month.
League spokesperson Louise Robertson said: “People who go to remote parts of the countryside and commit acts of cruelty against animals are sadly mistaken if they think they can get away with it. This case just goes to show that crimes against wildlife are dealt with seriously by the courts and we welcome the guilty verdicts.”