Saturday 8 March 2014

The price of repeated wildlife crime in Britain – £200


Posted by: Kevin Heath / 51 mins ago

Britain’s most convicted bird egg collector has appeared in court for the 10th time for keeping protected wild bird eggs. The sentence handed out by magistrates was a £200 fine and £300 in costs. Yet again British magistrates have chosen to ignore the on-going threat to wildlife and the impact of wildlife crime on wild species.

Gregory Peter Wheal (50yrs) of Vinecote Road, Coventry appeared before magistrates on 3rd March 2014 for keeping 4 birds eggs. The eggs were discovered by police who were at Wheal’s home on another unrelated matter in September 2013. The eggs belonged to two guillemot, one razorbill and a mute swan.

Wheal is well-known locally for his egg collecting habit and has a local nickname of ‘Greg the Egg’. In defence Wheal claimed that he thought the eggs were old eggs and taken from the wild before the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 came into effect. That would mean the eggs were legal to have.

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