Jailed, fishery boss who shot otter dead for eating his carp

A FISHERY owner who shot an otter has been jailed in the first prosecution of its kind in the UK.

Stuart Jones killed the heavily protected Eurasian otter with a rifle.

The 54-year-old – who owned Lyons Gate Caravan Park and fishery in Dorset – set traps for otters which were emptying his lakes of carp worth up to £40,000 each.

His ‘ barbaric’ act was witnessed by shocked fishermen and they reported him to the authorities.

Jones was prosecuted for killing a wild protected animal under the Conservation of Habitats and Species regulations 2017 and for setting a trap for a protected animal under the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981.

He was jailed for two months by a judge at Bournemouth Crown Court. The founder of the UK Wild Otter Trust Dave Webb said that it was the first case of its kind in the UK and he was ‘over the moon’ with the outcome.

Otters were on the verge of extinction in Britain in the late

Barbaric act: Stuart Jones 1950s and early 1960s because of pollution and habitat loss.

They were successfully reintroduced by conservationists in the 1980s but Eurasian otters are now classed as near threatened.

Since their reintroduction, otters have been blamed for the loss of thousands of pounds worth of fish such as carp and barbel.

The court heard that Jones

Protected animal: An otter found the creatures a ‘nuisance’ and had ‘planned their demise’.

Victoria Hill, prosecuting, said fishermen at the lakes in July last year caught the otter in a net and alerted Jones.

Miss Hill said: ‘They thought it was being caught to be relocated but when the defendant arrived he was carrying a rifle.

‘He pulled the bolt back on the rifle, put it to the back of the otter’s head and pulled the trigger. The otter seemed to thrash a few times and then it was deceased.’

Mr Webb described the act as ‘barbaric and inhumane’.

The court heard otters have a limited impact on the fishing population within this environment and were actually a positive feayears ture as they demonstrate good quality water for fish.

Miss Hill added: ‘If people were to behave in the way this defendant has, the impact on the otter population as a whole would be devastating. That’s why they are a protected species.’

The court heard that Jones had also set up traps to drown otters.

He pleaded guilty to two counts of killing and setting up traps for a protected species.

He had run the fishery for 17 but recently sold the business. Jamie Porter, defending, said: ‘He had a lot of otters on the site at that time, at least three, and wasn’t thinking clearly when he took the action he took.

‘He badly misjudged his audience and as a consequence finds himself here today.’

Judge Stephen Climie sentenced Jones to two months in prison.

He said: ‘You planned the demise of this otter and had set up your own makeshift traps. You were aware that it was illegal to trap and/or kill this species but you continued with the plan you had.

‘You went with one clear intention in mind to kill that otter.’

Judge Climie also said he could not suspend the sentence because ‘the point has to be made’ and Jones had deliberately attempted to avoid the law which had been in place since 1981.

Speaking after the case Mr Webb said: ‘I am surprised but over the moon he has got a custodial sentence. This will send a stark warning to other fishery people.’

‘Planned their demise’