Is it illegal to kill a wild animal at work?

[SilverDoe]

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.

I feel bad for the magpie :(
Just to say though, your pets can't be vegan. Your hamster needs some mealworms at least to get the correct nutrients. Please feed it a proper diet.

@purpleplan

I don't know what the police would do, but worth reporting it as a wildlife crime and let them deal with it. Here's RSPB info: www.rspb.org.uk/birds-and-wildlife/wildlife-guides/bird-a-z/magpie/legal-magpie-control-methods/

I'd also email the Coop head office and express concern, and ask what company policy is and whether they sanctioned this action.

What exactly is the OP going to report?

"My partner was in a shop and heard a woman shouting at a member of staff that he'd killed a bird"?

Apart from anything else your several steps removed from the situation. She said he said she said. You need the witness (the person who claims to have seen the alleged killing) to make the report.

If supermarkets investigated every member of staff who had some random woman shout at them in store, well, self-service checkouts would be the only option available.

@SilverDoe slightly off topic sorry, but hamsters are omnivore, and should be getting some form protein in their diet to stay healthy.

With regards to the poor magpie, you need as many of you as possible to complain, put it on social media ie. Twitter.

No animal deserves to die because human interaction/intrusion has made it friendly.

Oop see that's already been covered 🙈

We had two pigeons get in at work and the person tasked with dealing with them said he'd got no choice but to kill them. It was procedure, he reckoned.

Thankfully, we eventually managed to shoo them out of the window ourselves.

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

Magpies (even just one magpie) in a food shop are as much of a risk to public health as rats, particularly with the avian flu outbreak.

It is very sad but action did need to be taken, even if it wasn't killing the poor bird. It is illegal to kill magpies except in a few circumstances. However, you don't actually know what happened, whether the manager actually killed the bird himself or had the bird killed by pest control by someone licensed to do it or whether the manager killed the bird accidentally trying to chase it out of the store.

I would call the RSPB for advice (and to see if they will investigate and take action, if appropriate) and write to the Co-op, quoting the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981. If you know the lady who was shouting at him, you could ask her if she witnessed what happened.

www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1981/69

[quote Electriq]@SilverDoe slightly off topic sorry, but hamsters are omnivore, and should be getting some form protein in their diet to stay healthy.

With regards to the poor magpie, you need as many of you as possible to complain, put it on social media ie. Twitter.

No animal deserves to die because human interaction/intrusion has made it friendly.[/quote]
My hamster has the correct percentage of protein based on general guides and website general knowledge from places like Hamster Hideout.

They do not HAVE to eat meat, they are granivores!!

@SilverDoe Just because they do 'just fine' doesn't make it right. Hamsters tend to be kept on a vegan diet because of lack of knowledge not because it is best for them.

I’ve skipped a lot of responses as it’s too upsetting. I adore my magpies. I know they can be shits. But mine know me, they are so clever
I’m so sorry. I’d be so fucking angry.

I’m assuming someone’s mentioned the wildlife act, he can be prosecuted under that but you’d need a bothered police force.

Can I just clarify once and for all.

My hamsters are fine, all my hamsters kept in my adult life have large species appropriate, German/natural styles cages. They are fed a good quality diet supplemented with organic whole grains from Holland and Barrett. They have all lived (4 so far) well above average life spans, particularly the dwarf ones.

Thank you for your concern.

@SilverDoe If we have to keep pets we should do so providing the diet and environment closest to what they would eat in the wild. For hamsters this is mostly grain as you state but also includes insects.

@SheldonesqueTheBstard

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.

But you DON'T know. You know absolutely fuck all about what happened to this bird. The OP doesn't actually know what happened, either.

So you really need to calm down before you give yourself a tummyache.

[quote SilverDoe]@Pluvia please get over yourself. I may be a "townie" but I've grown up around nature, had pets all of my life.

I am vegetarian going vegan and all of my pets are vegan (guinea pigs, hamsters). I would love a cat but refuse to buy meat based pet food so cats are off limits to me.

Does this make me worthy of being upset at a case of animal cruelty? Or is that only reserved for people of utmost moral superiority?[/quote]
I'm not being morally superior, I'm being realistic. And as others have pointed out, the council's hygiene and food safety team wouldn't be impressed with a shop that allowed a bird to hop around in it, potentially spreading salmonella, mites etc.

Of course being upset is appropriate. I'm upset when I see a nest of chicks pecked to death by a magpie or a rabbit being caught and eaten by a fox, or next door's cat slowly torturing a baby rat to death. All horrible but nowhere near as horrible as seeing you rouse a slavering MN mob to get a man sacked for something you have absolutely no evidence of him doing.

[quote IMONTHETOILET]@SilverDoe Just because they do 'just fine' doesn't make it right. Hamsters tend to be kept on a vegan diet because of lack of knowledge not because it is best for them.[/quote]
My 'just fine' comment was tongue in cheek/sarcastic. They are thriving. And as said before, they are GRANIVORES. They can supplement with meat/insects because it would just be a good source of calorie dense nutrition in the wild. They do not NEED meat like a cat does, if their diet is sufficiently high in vegetable protein.

Magpies are a tragically maligned species.

I once listen to an episode of No Such Thing as a Fish on magpies and crows. It was fascinating. They pass down knowledge about people who have done them wrong to subsequent generations and will attack them on sight despite never having seen the person before first hand.

I suspect, without any certainty, they are probably classed as vermin.

@SilverDoe people are just sharing concern for animal welfare, just as you are and why you came here, my comments were not accusatory in nature, just educational.
Seems you are aware of your hamsters omnivorous needs, but some may not have.

Good luck with getting justice for the Magpie.

I'm curious as to the method of killing.

I think that is probably important in the legal sense.

I would have thought pest control people have a license to kill pests. Farmers (here anyway) have different allowances than an average person.

I can't see how a shop owner/manager is legally permitted to euthanise a bird.

The posters mentioning bird flu well done for pointing that out

Also, hamsters are actually omnivores not herbivores so you aren't giving your hamsters the best diet if they are on a solely vegan diet.

I'm glad you said that because I used to feed mine scraps of roast lamb was i was a child

Of course being upset is appropriate. I'm upset when I see a nest of chicks pecked to death by a magpie or a rabbit being caught and eaten by a fox, or next door's cat slowly torturing a baby rat to death. All horrible but nowhere near as horrible as seeing you rouse a slavering MN mob to get a man sacked for something you have absolutely no evidence of him doing

So I owe this man my silence because he may get in trouble for doing something despicable? I have not named and shamed him, I have not encouraged a "slavering mob", how ridiculous. I asked after the legality of the situation and kept details deliberately very vague in my OP to avoid upset/anger. I was told more information was needed, I provided it.

Again, although it's very sad, animal on animal violence as part of nature is nothing to do with what happened here.

And as for him getting sacked - I sincerely doubt that will happen. And, even if he was, why is it my job to keep silent to avoid that? If his actions are deemed sackable, then he as the person who did them is responsible. Not me for being the one to complain about it.

So you know nothing
Absolutely nothing
Other than you know someone that heard someone shouting at a shopkeeper
You have no facts whatsoever and have added your own narrative about what you think happened
To have emailed the man's employer on this basis is disgusting

I'd make sure I was 100% certain that the guy in the shop killed it and that it wasn't humanely because of injury etc.
Then I'd inform his company's head office. As in, phone up and ask for contact details for head office. And make a nuisance of myself if they tried to fob me off.
Also social media and local papers.

Magpies are interesting and characterful birds. If it was indeed just killed because the bloke didn't like it hopping into his shop, he was despicable and it's very sad.

@Wreath21 I have just as much time as you have to come and berate us wingnuts 😂