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AIBU?

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Original poster

Is it illegal to kill a wild animal at work?

444 replies

SilverDoe · 27/01/2022 09:57

Posting for traffic. Is illegal/possible to pursue for animal cruelty if someone kills a wild animal in their work place?

I have been googling but I can only find information really regarding livestock and pets.

OP posts:
Original poster
SilverDoe · 27/01/2022 10:41

@BernadetteRostankowskiWolowitz rats are intelligent and social creatures. If it was a friendly rat attached to people that didn't bother anyone and it was killed inhumanely yes I would have felt the same.

Why does it matter about hypothetical situations and mental gymnastics anyway? It wasn't a rat. It was a magpie.

OP posts:
SheldonesqueTheBstard · 27/01/2022 10:43

I would be joining Twitter and Facebook and telling everyone what he’d done.

What a despicable excuse for a man.

And what a bastard awful thing to do.

BernadetteRostankowskiWolowitz · 27/01/2022 10:43

But where do you stop? What do you permit? A rottweiler? A rat? A bird? A cat?

Fact of the matter is, the animal was going in and out of shops, pecking at peoples shoes etc

You might be OK with that, but it's unreasonable to expect everyone to be OK with that

Like I say, I'm not saying I am OK with someone just choosing to kill any creature off their own back; but if the animal is legitimately being a pest, then pest control is suitable.

DriveMeCrazy1974 · 27/01/2022 10:44

@SilverDoe

No it was not injured or suffering in any way. It was friendly, it would approach people and do stuff like pull their shoe laces which I've read is a sign of play.

I know it sounds crazy and over the top but I'm so horrified that instead of just calling the RSPCA, or taking it to the pretty local wild animal hospital, or even just shooing the bloody thing outside, he chose to kill it :(

It was also just one single magpie, it's not like it was a pest/infestation issue or anything.

I do not have details on how he killed the magpie.

I don't think you're being over the top at all. If this had been anywhere near me, I would have been furious. I love magpies, but, even if I didn't, what right did this awful man have to take that decision? I'd report him in a heartbeat. Mind you, I'd also go and give him a piece of my mind too.
PossiblyDreaming · 27/01/2022 10:44

Magpie/ rat/ whatever it was clearly enough of a pest to be concerning the shopkeeper. And I really doubt you’d have been cooing over a rat tugging at your shoelaces every time you went to Co-op.

Most importantly though you have no idea what happened. You can’t report a guy to his work for something that you’ve heard about third hand.

PossiblyDreaming · 27/01/2022 10:45

@SheldonesqueTheBstard then you’re absolutely despicable. You have no idea what happened, just like the OP yet you’d encourage a mob to hound him out of his job. This country makes me sick sometimes.

Pluvia · 27/01/2022 10:46

It's legal to trap or shoot magpies in England.

www.rspb.org.uk/birds-and-wildlife/wildlife-guides/bird-a-z/magpie/legal-magpie-control-methods/

Magpies are horrible, predatory birds. They've driven thrushes and blackbirds from my garden and I paid to have them trapped and destroyed a few years ago. I've seen what they do to young nestlings — four or five bloody, pecked little chicks on the ground, some of them with wings eaten and eyes pecked out.

There are far better causes to feel such righteous indignation about.

melj1213 · 27/01/2022 10:46

Because we've seen him all week, he's a well known feature of the local shops.

Hmm

Just because you have seen the bird all week doesn't mean it couldn't have been injured just before the shop worker killed it ... I saw my mum on Tuesday, that didn't stop her tripping over and spraining her ankle yesterday.

For all you know the bird was attacked by a predator last night so that when it "hopped into the shop" this morning it was clearly injured, or it could have flown into a window or got stuck in a shop fixture ... any of which injures would justify the shop worker humanely killing the bird to put it our of its misery.

Original poster
SilverDoe · 27/01/2022 10:46

@BernadetteRostankowskiWolowitz

But where do you stop? What do you permit? A rottweiler? A rat? A bird? A cat?

Fact of the matter is, the animal was going in and out of shops, pecking at peoples shoes etc

You might be OK with that, but it's unreasonable to expect everyone to be OK with that

Like I say, I'm not saying I am OK with someone just choosing to kill any creature off their own back; but if the animal is legitimately being a pest, then pest control is suitable.

Like I say, I'm not saying I am OK with someone just choosing to kill any creature off their own back

That's what happened though. I understand that pest control exists. But it's not what happened, it was not okay and I am angry and upset and I don't see why it should be acceptable. It's not acceptable. Whether people are okay with the magpie or not doesn't matter! What matters is whether or not it was acceptable or unacceptable, cruel or humane. And it wasn't.

OP posts:
TheChemicalMother · 27/01/2022 10:47

I really would not want a wild bird (or any bird) hopping on produce in a shop. Bird shit carries salmonella and all sorts.

And a magpie that pulls shoe laces is a menace to small children in pushchairs if they tried to pull on gloves etc.. Corvids have massive strong beaks.

Who knows why exactly the shopkeeper killed this magpie, but people should think twice before feeding and encouraging close contact between any wild creature and humans.

PossiblyDreaming · 27/01/2022 10:47

How do you know whether he killed it in a humane way or not?

SheldonesqueTheBstard · 27/01/2022 10:48

I’ll take that dreaming

If the bird was a pest he could have taken it to a vet to get it off this earth humanely. Or pest control to do the same.

But what actually really is despicable is that he quite likely caused the bird suffering.

And I for one would give no fucks for everyone knowing that.

Pluvia · 27/01/2022 10:48

Are you vegan, SilverDoe?

Blacksheepcat · 27/01/2022 10:49

Good story for the local press or local internet sites. Maybe lots of customers will choose to stop shopping in there. If people are disgusted by what he’s done (like I would be) the best way to protest is to never give him your custom again and let him and his head office know why!

BernadetteRostankowskiWolowitz · 27/01/2022 10:49

That's what happened though. I understand that pest control exists. But it's not what happened

But you dont actually know what happened.

Original poster
SilverDoe · 27/01/2022 10:49

@melj1213

Because we've seen him all week, he's a well known feature of the local shops. Hmm

Just because you have seen the bird all week doesn't mean it couldn't have been injured just before the shop worker killed it ... I saw my mum on Tuesday, that didn't stop her tripping over and spraining her ankle yesterday.

For all you know the bird was attacked by a predator last night so that when it "hopped into the shop" this morning it was clearly injured, or it could have flown into a window or got stuck in a shop fixture ... any of which injures would justify the shop worker humanely killing the bird to put it our of its misery.

He would have said that if that was the case and cleared the whole issue up, wouldn't he.

I know I posted in AIBU but I'm not looking for people to personally attack me or invent different situations whereby it would have been acceptable for him to do this.

What I actually asked was about whether it was considered cruel or illegal. I have that information now and I will go forward with that in mind.

Thank you for all the helpful input particularly about the new law from January.

OP posts:
Soubriquet · 27/01/2022 10:49

He probably had it shot OP.

There are pest controllers who will use a pellet gun and shoot the bird. They rarely need to use more than one shot and the birds are dead on impact.

blyn72 · 27/01/2022 10:49

How did the manager kill the magpie? I cannot imagine doing something like that to a friendly bird.

When I was at work I caught a mouse but released it back to the wild.

BernadetteRostankowskiWolowitz · 27/01/2022 10:49

There is also an Avian Flu epidemic at the moment too isn't there?

PossiblyDreaming · 27/01/2022 10:50

@SheldonesqueTheBstard you would happily encourage a mob to hound someone out of a job because you’d heard third hand that he’d killed a bird? He could have had it killed humanely by pest control - OP doesn’t know whether he did or not yet here you are threatening to set up FB and Twitter accounts to let everyone know what he’s done (even though you don’t know what he’s done) and you genuinely think you’re in the right. Genuinely astounding.

HesterShaw1 · 27/01/2022 10:51

I agree OP.

Magpies are considered a "pest" and people trot out the "but they kill songbirds" line as an excuse for their cruelty. It seems that the moment a wild animal becomes even slightly inconvenient to some people, then they're fair game.

(And there's a certain sort of - almost always - man for whom the very existence of wild predators seems offensive to his manhood or something.)

Original poster
SilverDoe · 27/01/2022 10:51

@BernadetteRostankowskiWolowitz

That's what happened though. I understand that pest control exists. But it's not what happened

But you dont actually know what happened.

We know from the conversation that the manager killed the bird. Not that the manager had the bird killed.

We do not know how the manager killed the bird.

OP posts:
amusedbush · 27/01/2022 10:51

That's horrific. Magpies are incredibly intelligent - apparently up to the equivalent to a 7 year old child. I can't imagine what kind of horrible person could deliberately harm an animal, it's sociopathic.

PossiblyDreaming · 27/01/2022 10:52

@blyn72 then you almost certainly let that mouse die a far more painful and terrifying death than if you’d just killed it. Releasing mice into the wild is considered cruel as it would die of starvation, be alone or be predated in very quickly.

DropYourSword · 27/01/2022 10:52

"How do you know the bird wasn't injured? I don't get it."
Because we've seen him all week, he's a well known feature of the local shops.

This makes no sense. You genuinely don't know whether the bird had been injured. Doesn't make a difference if you've seen him all week if he got attacked by a cat this morning!