neighbour is shooting squirrels with bb gun

[1nextdooriscreepy]

Hi,

Have namechanged for this. My next door neighbour has a lot of bird feeders. The cheeky squirrels bounce along the fence and try to get some grub. Both the man and the woman shoot at the squirrels with bb guns to get them off. I haven't seen them shoot any cats, but my pud is a bit scared outside and is always looking back up at the window, especially if he hears noise there. They have a top floor flat, so it is like a shooting gallery.

Does anyone know if there is any regulation against this about this? We have only seen them shoot in their own garden. That is not to say they don't shoot elsewhere. Especially if there is no one out there with the cat, judging by my pud's reaction to them. They are a bit creepy. I have been down my garden at night to close my shed and sometimes he is looking out with what looks like night vision stuff. They don't close their back curtains so are always staring out.

Thanks in advance.

Totally illegal. Report to the police & the rspca. They prosecuted a chap in the midlands for shooting a squirrel with a pellet/air rifle.

Awful behaviour but not uncommon, sadly. Some people see squirrels, rabbits and other wildlife as vermin and have no qualms about shooting them if they enter the garden and eat plants or at the birdtable.

As well as the cruelty often involved to the animals (and starving babies left behind), I often think about the unfairness of it - just how are the animals meant to know that the food isn't for them?!

Your neighbours are missing out too by their nasty narrowmindedness. We get as much enjoyment from feeding 'our' squirrels and other wildlife as we do from feeding 'our' birds, especially when we get to know individuals and they bring their babies along. Mini Leopard finds it all very exciting to watch too, so it's fantastic enrichment for him.

People like your neighbours make my blood boil, but I also feel sorry for them. Not comfortable to live alongside for you OP either.

Good grief, what a pair. I'd phone your council and see what they've got to say.

Assuming grey squirrels and within the confines of their own garden it’s sadly legal
It becomes illegal if the pellets cross boundaries or if protected wildlife are involved

sadly for the squirrels they’re classed as vermin and you can shoot them

That's terrible. Is a bb gun even powerful enough to kill?.

When dh asked a local farmer if he could shoot rabbits on his land his first question was if dh's air rifle was powerful enough to kill outright and not maim.

He didn't follow up on it as dh knows my views on shooting animals.

Contrary to some comments it is absolutely not illegal to shoot grey squirrels. Some may find it distasteful but they are considered an invasive pest species and can cause great damage to songbird and ground-nesting bird populations as they have a taste for eggs. Perhaps not a problem if you're properly in town, but not great if your property backs onto parks or wildlife preserves where such birds may be trying to breed. Indeed under the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 it is a criminal offence to release or introduce greys into the wild (if you find an injured grey and take it to the RSPCA, they often rehabilitate and release them - this is actually illegal!).

However, there is a responsibility not to cause unnecessary suffering. If you set traps, you must legally check them at least once every 24 hours.

If Fluffycloudland77 is referring to the case I think they are, the chap was NOT prosecuted for shooting the squirrel. He was prosecuted for shooting it and not making sure it was dead. The idiot came back several hours later and found it still suffering, which is rightly unacceptable.

To whit, my question would be whether OP's neighbour's BB gun is actually a "BB gun" (firing metal or plastic ball bearings). Such guns are usually cheap, nasty, inaccurate and not very powerful - entirely unsuited to humanely shooting live quarry. Or whether OP is simply using "bb gun" as a catchall descriptor for something that may be a perfectly decent air rifle running at a high enough power (9-11ft.lb. muzzle energy) to cleanly kill a squirrel.