A pensioner has been prosecuted by the RSPCA for torturing squirrels by capturing and drowning them. David Farrow, 71, pleaded guilty to one offence of causing unnecessary suffering to a squirrel under the Animal Welfare Act 2006.
He also admitted using a fenn trap in circumstances for which it was not approved for. Fenn traps are designed to catch and kill small vermin, they should be set in an artificial tunnel and a person is guilty of an offence under the Pest Acts 1954 if they do not do that.
Farrow was reported to the RSPCA by several people for trapping and drowning grey squirrels at his former home in Doncaster, South Yorks,. He said he’d used Fenn traps to catch the squirrels because they were pests, even though he was told the manner in which he was trapping them was unlawful.
