Hobby hunter hoarded thousands of deep-frozen birds

14 months suspended sentence

A hobby hunter and taxidermist from the Bavarian district of Rottal-Inn was convicted on 10.10.2023 by the lay magistrates’ court in Eggenfelden of violations of the Federal Nature Conservation Act, the War Weapons Control Act and the Explosives Act, and sentenced to a prison term of 14 months.

The proceedings were set in motion by the association «Komitee gegen den Vogelmord», whose experts had presented the public prosecutor’s office with evidence of extensive illegal trade in protected bird species and had filed a criminal complaint against the defendant.

4’000 frozen wild animals in cold storage rooms

During a search of the property and living quarters of the 64-year-old hobby hunter, the police discovered a total of four cold storage rooms containing more than 4’000 frozen or stuffed wild animals. These included numerous protected species such as common buzzards, goshawks, long-eared owls, eagle owls, tawny owls, black woodpeckers, great spotted woodpeckers, hawfinches, chaffinches, song thrushes, great egrets, goosanders, jackdaws, beavers, squirrels, as well as more than 700 Eurasian jays and other corvids.

During the inspection, the police discovered, in addition to numerous hunting rifles, several thousand projectiles of various calibres, including armour-piercing and tracer ammunition as well as a larger quantity of black powder.

A signal against wildlife crime

In the more than four-hour court hearing, the court found it proven that the man had violated the Federal Nature Conservation Act in more than 89 cases, as well as additionally violating the Explosives Act, the War Weapons Control Act, and the Weapons Act. The defendant was sentenced to 14 months' imprisonment on probation and immediately loses his hunting and weapons licenses.

The Committee Against Bird Slaughter welcomes the verdict as an important signal against wildlife crime in Bavaria. “The illegal trade in wild animals is a huge business, generating millions of euros in turnover every year,” said chairman Karl-Heinz Kreutzer from Augsburg.