Page 7 | Is it illegal to kill a wild animal at work?

SilverDoe · 2022-01-27T09:57:30+00:00

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.

XiCi · 27/01/2022 11:29

Good luck with getting justice for the Magpie
🤣🤣🤣

DropYourSword · 27/01/2022 11:29

So I owe this man my silence because he may get in trouble for doing something despicable?

Why not speak to him to actually get the full story first?

IntermittentParps · 27/01/2022 11:29

Sorry, totally missed the main point about legality
I'd phone non-emergency police and ask about it.

Original poster

SilverDoe · 27/01/2022 11:30

@XiCi

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 would say disgusting is an overstatement.

He obviously killed the bird. Why wouldn't he just say he didn't kill him if he didn't!!

It's so dumb because it's so obvious what happened. Of course I sent in a complaint, because what he did was WRONG. The outrage over someone being called out for what they did is just so bizarre to me.

OP posts:

AnEpisodeOfEastenders · 27/01/2022 11:31

@SilverDoe

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.

If this magpie had visited the shop after viciously pecking a nest of chicks to death would be be as aggrieved at the magpies departure from this mortal coil or would it have been more acceptable? Would the magpies method of departure played a part or would you expect a more or less cruel means as a lesson to other magpies?

HangingOver · 27/01/2022 11:31

Magpies are interesting and characterful birds

So are chickens - 50,000 of which will have been killed in the UK since this thread started, probably not including the babies once that get minced alive shortly after birth for the egg industry.

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

This thread is bonkers even for MN

AuxiliaryFanbelt · 27/01/2022 11:31

www.rspb.org.uk/birds-and-wildlife/wildlife-guides/bird-a-z/magpie/legal-magpie-control-methods/#:~:text=Since%20research%20indicates%20that%20magpies,that%20they%20had%20acted%20lawfully.

This is the RSPB page about killing magpies - you can report a crime here. Sorry if this has already been posted

Original poster

SilverDoe · 27/01/2022 11:31

@XiCi

FOR FUCK'S SAKE. Do none of you wingnuts have jobs or hobbies or anything else to do with your time?Nobodyon this thread knows what happened to the bird. OP didn't witness it, nor did her H, absolutely ALL the information OP seems to have is that some other woman was loudly accusing the shop manager of having killed the bird. Yet people are demanding a hate campaign be started against the shop/the shop manager/the company over... fuck all

Exactly. This thread is frightening, how unhinged people can get over a piece of hearsay

Unhinged?? Really?? The guy killed a bird and I emailed the Co Op customer services to say I did not think this was acceptable as it's animal cruetly.

I hardly think "unhinged" is an appopriate description of what has happened here!

OP posts:

StopGo · 27/01/2022 11:32

@SilverDoe you could contact your local police and ask to be contacted by the Wildlife Officer.

TheRealityCheque · 27/01/2022 11:32

Imagine a world where a grown adult keeps animals couped up in an unnatural environment as 'pets' for her own entertainment has the audacity to complain about what another person MAY have done to a pest, without a shred of evidence or even knowledge.

RoomOfRequirement · 27/01/2022 11:33

If it was going in and out of his shop it probably was a nuisance. You enjoying looking at it is different to it causing a mess and stir at someone's workplace. Back in the day I worked at stores like Debenhams and when birds got it they always were killed, I think it's common practice.

I don't know the legalities but I do know I wouldn't stop using this shop because of it.

Original poster

SilverDoe · 27/01/2022 11:36

@TheRealityCheque

Imagine a world where a grown adult keeps animals couped up in an unnatural environment as 'pets' for her own entertainment has the audacity to complain about what another person MAY have done to a pest, without a shred of evidence or even knowledge.

This comment is so hypocritical. My guinea pigs are free roaming, friendly and tame as fuck!! I'm okay with my choices thanks, and your strawman argument is completely irrelevant anyway.

I honestly can't believe how irate people get about animal cruelty towards ME. I'm sure my having a pair of guinea pigs is WAY worse than a guy stomping/strangling a friendly little bird to death, of course..

OP posts:

IntermittentParps · 27/01/2022 11:38

@HangingOver

Magpies are interesting and characterful birds

So are chickens - 50,000 of which will have been killed in the UK since this thread started, probably not including the babies once that get minced alive shortly after birth for the egg industry.

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

This thread is bonkers even for MN

So start a thread about chicken farming.

Thank you for calling me 'bonkers'. What I wrote really isn't, though. I made clear that I'd want to be 100% sure that he killed it maliciously and so didn't have any excuse legally (like injury). If he broke the law in killing it, it is really not bonkers to alert his employer. And I wrote my advice mindful of how online forms for complaints sometimes mean communications just go off into the ether, and of how company gatekeepers often try to avoid members of the public getting in direct touch with senior staff.

EvilPea · 27/01/2022 11:39

@Wallywobbles

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.

This is true. I did some work with a corvid expert a few years back. They are so fucking clever. They recognise people, cars. They learn our routines. Very much maligned because of their omnivore diet.

I am genuinely very very sad about this poor creature. I hope it was quick and he didn’t suffer.

EvilPea · 27/01/2022 11:40

@RoomOfRequirement

If it was going in and out of his shop it probably was a nuisance. You enjoying looking at it is different to it causing a mess and stir at someone's workplace. Back in the day I worked at stores like Debenhams and when birds got it they always were killed, I think it's common practice.

I don't know the legalities but I do know I wouldn't stop using this shop because of it.

There are other methods used now. Such as using birds of prey to scare them out.

nokidshere · 27/01/2022 11:41

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.

But you have no idea what happened?

I'm so so gutted, it was a really sweet and intelligent little thing. And the kids all saw him regularly too.

Magpies are not sweet. And how do you even know it was the same one every day? And because you saw it twice a day for 5 minutes you don't think it was a nuisance? Maybe it was there for the full 12 hours the shop was open, or do you think it just popped in twice a day to see you?

Sorry but I think you are being ridiculous. You have some half baked story that someone else overheard, you have no facts and yet you are willing to try and get someone into trouble over this?

IntermittentParps · 27/01/2022 11:42

Corvus: A Life With Birds, by Esther Woolfson, is a lovely book; a memoir of her living with magpies, rooks and other corvids.

Redbeanpasta · 27/01/2022 11:42

Why wouldn't he just say he didn't kill him if he didn't!!
You don't know that he didn't? You're hearing this from your husband who also wasnt involved in the Convo, he was just listening in.

Wreath21 · 27/01/2022 11:42

@SilverDoe Once AGAIN in the hope of getting you to engage your brain before doing something stupid, unethical and borderline illegal yourself - you DO NOT KNOW that this man killed this bird. You didn't even witness his reaction to being accused of killing it - which might just as easily have been a matter of humouring or fobbing off a random person who had come into the shop making wild accusations (ever worked in a client-facing job? Random troublemakers are a regular occurrence, whether they are claiming you killed a bird or that you are beaming messages directly to their brains on behalf of the giant space lizards.)

ZorbaTheHoarder · 27/01/2022 11:43

I know a pp has already suggested this, OP, but why don't you go and talk to the shopkeeper yourself, to find out exactly what happened?

The story might not be exactly what you think and you would at least know the facts.

ClaudineClare · 27/01/2022 11:44

I haven't read the full thread, because it seems quite unpleasant, but just in case anyone has not linked to this already:

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

Wreath21 · 27/01/2022 11:46

BTW I also like corvids and find them fascinating, and would not approve of someone taking it upon themselves to kill a wild bird just because they considered it a nuisance.
But that's not the issue here. The issue is that OP is working herself up into a ridiculous, self-righteous frenzy over something that may not even have happened and seems determined to harm other people over some third-hand bullshit.
Some of you sound like the sort of vicious morons who share photographs that are allegedly of some or other notorious criminal via social media, revving each other up to hunt them down and batter them...

Original poster

SilverDoe · 27/01/2022 11:47

@ZorbaTheHoarder

I know a pp has already suggested this, OP, but why don't you go and talk to the shopkeeper yourself, to find out exactly what happened?

The story might not be exactly what you think and you would at least know the facts.

My partner is going to go and have a word this afternoon when he picks DC up from school. He is not shouty like the lady (although I trust the lady, she works at the school) and he will find out what happened.

Also @Wreath21 I'll take on the chin if what I did was "borderline" illegal. I'm so surprised so many think he didn't kill the bird tbh, it's so obvious.

OP posts:

mydogisthebest · 27/01/2022 11:48

I would be upset and furious and definitely would report him to his employers.

I would also contact the RSPB and the RSPCA.

Do you have a local facebook page? If so I would post on there.

Wreath21 · 27/01/2022 11:49

@ZorbaTheHoarder

I know a pp has already suggested this, OP, but why don't you go and talk to the shopkeeper yourself, to find out exactly what happened?

The story might not be exactly what you think and you would at least know the facts.

Bear in mind that the shopkeeper would be entirely within his rights to tell OP to get lost and stop wasting his time. He is under no obligation to answer random accusations from idiots. And if he says to her 'I have no idea what you are talking about, get out of my shop or I'll call the police', is she going to accept that or run screaming back to social media insisting that she KNOWS he did it and he MUST CONFESS AND BE PUNISHED?