Wildlife Poisoned with Carbofuran: Hobby Hunter Convicted

Animal welfare organisations are welcoming the verdict against the criminal element within hunting circles. On Wednesday, a 70-year-old was convicted at the Krems Regional Court near Vienna and sentenced to six months' probation and a fine of 1,800 euros for allegedly poisoning several animals with carbofuran in Waidhofen a. d. Thaya.

The Austrian is alleged to have laid out bait laced with the insecticide carbofuran to carry out the poisonings. The verdict against the hobby hunter is not yet final.

All of the offences attributed to the retired man are said to have taken place in 2019. In the first half of the year, he allegedly killed a white-tailed eagle, a common buzzard, a stone marten, and a fox. The 70-year-old was further charged with the killing of two stone martens and a Eurasian eagle-owl in August of the previous year.

Carcasses Seized

Several carcasses had been found in the 70-year-old's chest freezer. However, on the first day of the trial on 15 June, the defendant denied having poisoned the animals. «It would be unrealistic to think that someone who poisons animals would keep them in their own freezer», said the defence counsel.

The discovery of a container of carbofuran at the hobby hunter's premises was explained by the man from the Waldviertel region by claiming he had previously received the insecticide from an acquaintance to combat slugs in the garden. «This claim has not been corroborated by any evidence», the public prosecutor emphasised in her closing statement.

According to court records, a dead blackbird is also attributed to the accused. The bird reportedly became trapped in a wire cage set by the defendant, which the 70-year-old allegedly failed to check daily as required.

The blackbird subsequently died in the trap. The man from the Waldviertel disputed on Wednesday that he had failed to inspect it daily. He claims to have overlooked the bird in the trap. That he had not looked properly at the time had beena small mistake», the accused concluded. «That small mistake is what brings you here today», the judge retorted.

The single-judge hearing also addressed alleged poison purchases that the accused is said to have repeatedly made in Hungary. However, the witness testimonies on this matter proved largely unproductive.«I don’t know anything at all», said a 63-year-old hunting colleague, for instance. Another man stated on the record that poison had never come up during joint hunting trips to Hungary.

«I have absolutely no doubt that things happened as described in the criminal complaint», said the judge in the reasoning of the verdict. It had been particularly serious that the carbofuran and the animals had been found in the possession of the 70-year-old. The unconditional fine in particular was intended as a signal in terms of both specific and general deterrence: «The attitude of ‘we’ve always done it this way’ is no longer acceptable today.»The defendant’s defence counsel requested time to consider the verdict; the public prosecutor made no statement.

The guilty verdict has been welcomed byWWFand BirdLife. The non-final ruling is a «clear signal and an important victory in the fight against the illegal persecution of birds of prey and other wildlife«.

Poisonings are not a trivial offence but a criminal act that must be consistently prosecuted, emphasized Christina Wolf-Petre, species conservation expert at WWF Austria, and Johannes Hohenegger, raptor expert at BirdLife Austria, in a joint statement. To better prosecute illegal poisonings and shootings, the investigating authorities must be provided with more resources in future, the organisations appealed to policymakers. «Because so far, most perpetrators go undetected or the penalties are often too lenient to have a deterrent effect.«