Vile trophies of the Facebook poachers
Three men convicted of illegal hunting after boasting that their dogs killed wild deer ...and here they are posing as family men
THESE are the three men who boasted on social media about using their specially bred and trained dogs to torture and kill wild deer, the Irish Mail on Sunday can reveal.
The men pleaded guilty last week to illegally hunting and killing wild deer, and to causing them unnecessary suffering after they were arrested as part of a garda investigation into poaching code-named Operation Bambi.
Keith O’Dwyer, 27, of Glenview, Carrickon-Suir, Co. Tipperary; Dean Murphy, 25, of Ballyrichard Court, Carrick-on-Suir; and Jamie Regan, 28, of Comeragh View, Carrickon-Suir – received two-year suspended sentences.
A source told the MoS this week that the men caused the wild deer ‘huge suffering’. The source added poachers can make substantial profit with each wild red deer fetching around €250.
The men – who appear as doting fathers and family men on social media – were caught after they uploaded footage and pictures of their escapades on Facebook. The gardaí were alerted and they established that the footage was filmed in Tipperary.
Their investigation included ‘trawling through social media’. In one clip posted to Facebook and filmed in a field near Clonmel a red stag was being bitten in the neck by three dogs before escaping across the River Suir.
Footage of a defenceless fox being torn apart by two dogs remains posted to Murphy’s Facebook page. The video is titled ‘good catch’ and shows the dogs being held on leads while they savage the fox.
In a hard-to-watch video of two dogs attacking a deer, the three men can be heard goading the dogs. One says: ‘The size of him. Go on boys, go on,’ while another adds: ‘Go on Patch, go on Patch. Pull him over – pull his back legs or something.’
The dogs appear to be pulling at the deer’s neck as the animal struggles to get away.
The gardaí came across a number of other stills that showed either deer being hunted with dogs or people posing beside dead animals.
Eight people were involved in the hunting which used dogs that were a greyhound-bulldog cross to take down deer.
‘These dogs are specially bred. They are big and aggressive,’ Sergeant Barry Boland told the court.
The video and images found on the internet showed 12 deer.
The investigation led by Superintendent Willie Leahy, Inspector Paul O’Driscoll and Sgt Boland of Clonmel Garda Station identified the individuals involved and raided six houses as a result. Superintendent Martin Walker from Kildare – who has vast experience in animal welfare legislation – worked in conjunction with his colleagues.
When raiding one of the houses, gardaí discovered thousands of euro of cocaine on a kitchen table. A charge against Regan of possession for sale or supply cocaine worth €5,675 was adjourned for a year to allow him to collect €2,000 for a charity that helps victims of drug crime.
The court was told that neither O’Dwyer nor Murphy realised that what they were doing was illegal, while Regan didn’t appreciate the cruelty involved ‘until it was shown to him’. They regarded deer hunting as a sport, the court heard.
Judge Thomas Teehan said the crimes involved ‘inherent cruelty to animals through the pursuit of those animals by quite vicious dogs, bred for the purposes of hunting deer’.
All three were told to pay €1,000 each to animal-welfare organisations within nine months.
In another investigation under Operation Bambi, three men were convicted of illegal lamping – hunting at night using lamps – and ordered to pay €1,500 to a wildlife rehabilitation charity.
One of the three, Noel O’Connor was also convicted of using a rifle to hunt wild animals.
The three appeared at Glenties District Court this week. They each faced a series of charges relating to hunting foxes and deer. However, Judge Paul Kelly dismissed the deer poaching charges.
Superintendent Martin Walker asked for the rifle to be forfeited.
He said: ‘We have to send out a strong message. People are coming up here to Donegal and destroying our natural heritage. It requires serious consideration.’
Judge Kelly said he believed that taking the rifle would be disproportionately severe. He added that he would give the men the benefit of the Probation Act if they each paid €500 to a suitable charity.
The MoS understands the gardaí may still apply to have the firearm’s licence revoked at a future date.
In another development under Operation Bambi, John ‘Nogsey’ Nolan – who, the MoS previously revealed, boasted on Facebook about illegally slaughtering hundreds of wild deer – was arrested in the same part of Donegal days after the above arrests.
He later failed to appear in court and a bench warrant was issued for his arrest. A co-accused in the case was tragically killed in a car crash recently.
Deer are a protected species in Ireland; they cannot be hunted with dogs and can be hunted with a rifle only by licence. Poachers operate with the help of a high-powered lamp and an electronic device imitating the call of a stag during the rut – or mating season.
This attracts stags out of their cover in heavily forested areas, making them easy targets for the poachers.
The hunters leave the dead deer at the scene and using, GPS technology, return the next day to collect the remains of the animal.
The profits are substantial, with poachers fetching around €2.40 per kilogram.
Deer range in weight from around 45kg to 150kg.
Deer poaching is taken seriously by Garda HQ. A proposal to appoint Garda inspectors to liaise with the National Park and Wildlife Service in each county is expected to get the go-ahead.
The proposal is being ‘eagerly anticipated’ by wildlife groups who are concerned about the suffering caused to the animals as a result of this illegal activity.
Men caused the wild deer ‘huge suffering’ ‘Profits are substantial – around €250 per deer’