Man coated dead pheasants with rat poison in 'reckless action' over Scottish landowner feud

A man who baited birds of prey with pheasants coated in rat poison has been ordered to carry out 135 hours of unpaid work.

Clive Burgoyne, 38, of Forfar in Angus, left four pheasant carcasses gutted and filled with rat poison as part of an ongoing feud with a neighbouring landowner over shooting rights.

One of the pheasant carcasses coated in rat poison | COPFS

He hoped his actions would cause reputational damage to the Guynd estate near Arbroath, Angus, according to prosecutors.

At Forfar Sheriff Court on April 22, Burgoyne pleaded guilty to a breach of wildlife legislation between January and February 2023. The court heard he left four pheasant carcasses coated in rodenticide, which would cause haemorrhaging, in a bid to harm birds of prey.

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On Thursday at the same court, he was given a community payback order and 135 hours of unpaid work to be completed within 12 months, the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service (COPFS) said.

Prosecutors said he put birds of prey “at risk of injury or death” using a known rat poison that can kill a bird of prey in a single feed.

Prosecutors told how witnesses saw Burgoyne in the front passenger seat of a car travelling towards, and later away, from the Guynd estate on the morning of February 3, 2023.

A short time later, an estate worker discovered a dead pheasant on a footpath within the estate, COPFS said. The breast had been removed and the bird was covered in a quantity of grain and seed, which was then coated in a bright blue liquid.

A further search of the area revealed three more dead pheasants nearby, which had been similarly cut open and treated, according to COPFS.

Analysis carried out by officials at the Science and Advice for Scottish Agriculture confirmed the blue grain was a known rodenticide formulation. They believed the appearance of the pheasant carcasses suggested they had been prepared and set out with the intention of causing harm to birds.

After being arrested, a sample of Burgoyne’s DNA was found on all four of the dead birds.

A pheasant in the wild in Scotland | PA

Iain Batho, who leads on wildlife and environmental crime at COPFS, said: “It is highly important to preserve Scotland’s natural heritage, including the wildlife that forms part of it. As such, wild birds are given strict protection by our law.

“Clive Burgoyne’s reckless actions put various wildlife, particularly birds of prey, at risk of injury and death. COPFS takes offences under the Wildlife and Countryside Act seriously and will prosecute individuals where there is sufficient evidence of a crime and where it is in the public interest to do so.

“The result in this case is a testament to the collaborative working between COPFS, Police Scotland, and Science and Advice for Scottish Agriculture, who in this case were able to provide vital forensic evidence.”