Man disturbs peregrine nest with laser, does he get off lightly?

[Paul_B]

Man aims laser at peregrine falcon nest. He then handed himself in to police saying he'd made a mistake.

Without getting political the guy made a donation to the wildlife charity monitoring the birds, destroyed the laser and sat down with a police officer to discuss safe use of a laser.

Now AIUI disturbing the nest of a protected species is a offence under the relevant wildlife act. Does this community resolution seem appropriate?

The details of the case are that the parent bird left the chick, stepping on its tail to get away. Then left the chick alone for several hours. Fortunately the parent came back and the chick is OK. However if the chick had been younger it could have died if left alone that long.

Do police and the legislation treat harm to protected species seriously enough? It seems to me in this case not, but I'm not that clued up on your relevant laws or sentencing guidelines. I wonder if anyone on here can comment on this. I know there's a lot of knowledge on matters relating to nature on here from around the world but especially uk based.

 

[demented dale]

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[Paul_B]

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[demographic]

Wonder what he thought he was doing?

They'll be gamekeepers all over the land trying that one now.
Not that gamekeepers ever disrupt bird of prey nests, no siree. No way.

 

[Macaroon]

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???

 

[Pattree]

Just realised the nest was in Cromer, up on the church. Thank goodness they’ve fledged early this year.
We usually take a look at them courtesy of the project at the end of June.

My only real worry about this one is the copy-cat idiots.

 

[haptalaon]

Man aims laser at peregrine falcon nest. He then handed himself in to police saying he'd made a mistake.

Now AIUI disturbing the nest of a protected species is a offence under the relevant wildlife act. Does this community resolution seem appropriate?

I think a community resolution is always better than the alternatives. You can't un-do an action - but expressing remorse, committing not to do it again, being willing to face the consequences, & putting money towards making it right.

Can't hope for better than that, really.

& it saves the community money overall (arresting/charging/incarcerating people is all expensive) which could be better spent.

 

[Paul_B]

The trouble is no deterrent value. I read it that he was not made to donate money but volunteered. Perhaps a good outcome here but the next idiot with a laser won't see what happened here as much of a danger to then.

I'm really not sure what is best but I reckon sooner or later someone will do it and not make amends. I have the worry that crimes against nature or protected species might be getting downgraded.

 

[Chris]

Most crimes are - prisons are full.

Would prefer people were sent on compulsory training and volunteering courses of some kind for some of these crimes. Educate and make amends. Prison doesn’t seem to deter people even if they do end up there.