A PAIR of men who were caught digging at an active badger sett have been ordered to pay out more than £1,500.

Jamie Barnes, of Caernarvon Place in Bingham, Nottingham, appeared at Wrexham Magistrates Court on Tuesday alongside Ben Lloyd Davies, of Cwm Mawr in Belan, Welshpool.

The pair had been found guilty after trial of interfering with badger setts at a farm in Wrexham in August last year.

Jon Tarrant, prosecuting on behalf of the RSPCA, said on the day of the offence police were alerted to two males "digging into an alleged badger sett" near Maelor Wood.

On arrival at the site, an officer confirmed with the landowner that he had given permission for a hunt on his land the next day - but hadn't consented to any activity that day.

He drove the police officer to the location, where a pair of quadbikes were parked in the trees and a "large hole" had been made.

A locator collar was spotted on a pile of soil, and 41-year-old Barnes was lying on his stomach reaching into the hole, with 33-year-old Davies crouching next to him,

When asked what they were doing, Barnes said: "I'm rescuing the dog - we put it down after a fox and lost it."

He claimed they'd had to dig to find the dog, but later showed the officer that the dog was already in a box on the back of a quadbike - "covered in mud, shaking and with a cut on its nose which looked like a bite from another animal."

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Two main entrances to the sett were found nearby, and according to Barnes the dog had been put down one.

It had then returned and the men had started digging to the last location of the locator collar.

Barnes told the officer the sett wasn't active, and that they had been digging for about two hours before they were interrupted.

He admitted that if the police had not been called, they would have carried on instead of backfilling the hole.

Upon examining the hole, the officer found clear evidence that the end chamber of a badger sett was at the bottom.

It was also clear that fresh bedding was strewn in the area and there were badger trails leading in and around the sett - as well as a badger latrine which was still wet.

The court heard that at the time, Barnes had been employed by the Wynstay Hunt, and "had been asked to get a rogue fox" ahead of the following day's hunt.

Davies was a man of previous good character, but Barnes had a relevant previous conviction - of causing suffering to an animal in 2014, which concerned untreated facial injuries on his dogs.

He had been banned from keeping a dog for 18 months as a result.

In mitigation, the court heard both men had broadly accepted the events as set out by the prosecution.

However Barnes had believed he had authority to attend the site under hunting legislation exemptions given the permitted plans for the following day. He did not.

Davies went along to assist him, the court heard.

Neither of the defendants - described as "hard working family men" - had appreciated the sett showed signs of current use, but "have to accept they were wrong."

The court heard the offence had required "nothing more than recklessness" and that while their actions had damaged an end chamber, they hadn't damaged the entrances or prevented use of the sett by the badger population.

Deputy District Judge Owen Gerallt Jones handed down a £1,000 fine to each of the men, and ordered them each to pay £600 costs and a £100 victim surcharge.

 

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