Poachers’ bloody taunt to villagers
Dead animals dumped on streets in ‘warning’
VILLAGERS are being terrorised by poachers who are leaving animal corpses strewn across their streets and pavements.
In the latest incident, dozens of bloodied hares were dumped at the entrance to the community shop in Broughton, Hampshire.
The perpetrators even impaled a barn owl and kestrel on the shop’s door handles and rubbed animal blood and guts over the windows on Thursday night.
Locals believe the displays are a deeply sinister ‘message’ from the poachers to discourage them from interfering in their activities.
Other wild creatures including rabbits, pheasants, deer and
‘It’s happening twice a week’
birds of prey have been dumped in surrounding roads and fields in recent weeks, including a grim collection of 27 rabbits outside a primary school.
The poachers are thought to be linked to gangs who run international gambling syndicates, raking in hundreds of thousands of pounds a night.
It is believed they hunt illegally using guns and aggressive, specially-bred bull lurchers, and broadcast their activities live on Facebook, taking bets on how many animals the dogs can kill.
Mike Jelen, a conservation manager who works on estates in the area, said: ‘This is now happening twice a week. It’s total anarchy and the police are doing little about it. By dumping the bodies like this, the poachers are sticking two fingers up to farmers and rural communities.’
He said farmers and landowners are ‘constantly’ trying to prevent the attacks, putting themselves at risk. Pheasant poachers recently opened fire on a farmer who confronted them.
One local farmer, whose land has been targeted repeatedly, said: ‘They are basically laughing in our faces. The horrific display they left outside our community shop is obviously meant to let us know they’re invincible.’