A father is said to have shot five long-eared owls in Pram (Upper Austria) with two of his sons. The trio is now being charged with animal cruelty. There is a risk of a prison sentence of up to two years.
They were disturbing scenes that a 36-year-old and his equally old girlfriend had to watch in a meadow in Pram in April this year. They happened to watch as three local hunters — a 67-year-old man with two sons, 36 and 31 — surrounded a pear tree and repeatedly fired their shotguns into the treetop. When the trio noticed the witnesses, they allegedly fled.
Splintered nest
The 36-year-old, a hunter himself and a member of the ecological hunting association, wanted to know what the men had shot so wildly. When he reached the pear tree, he held his breath. There he not only discovered a shot bird of prey nest, but also the torn carcass of a protected long-eared owl and the remains of initially three chicks. The next day, the man found another dead baby owl in the branches of the tree.
weapon ban
Weidmann, who was deeply outraged by the behavior of his colleagues, filed a complaint. Police officers secured the bird carcasses and launched an investigation. The three suspects, one of whom (36) was supposed to be a sworn game warden whose job it was to monitor compliance with hunting regulations and report violations, had to hand in their shotguns. They were banned from guns.
Shot pellets were the cause of bird deaths
The investigation into the suspects has now been completed. “We have filed a criminal complaint against them for the willful killing of a vertebrate,” confirms Silke Enzlmüller, spokeswoman for Wels’ public prosecutor’s office. A date for the hearing has already been set. On June 28, the trio must answer to the subdistrict court in Wels from 1 p.m.
Hunter does not confess
The public prosecutor also had a pathological expert report drawn up on the cause of death of the five protected birds. “This showed that the long-eared owls had been hit by two different shot sizes. These hits were also responsible for the deaths of the birds,” says Enzlmüller.
Incidentally, the three hunters have not yet announced.
Source: Krone
I am Wallace Jones, an experienced journalist. I specialize in writing for the world section of Today Times Live. With over a decade of experience, I have developed an eye for detail when it comes to reporting on local and global stories. My passion lies in uncovering the truth through my investigative skills and creating thought-provoking content that resonates with readers worldwide.
