Man cleared of breaking hunting laws because he uses golden eagle to kill foxes

John Mease found not guilty after he used the bird of prey to catch animals instead of a pack of dogs

John Mease with his eagle (SWNS)

A man has been cleared of breaking hunting laws because he used a golden eagle to kill foxes.

John Mease, 45, was found not guilty after a court heard he used the bird of prey to catch animals instead of a pack of dogs.

He was also cleared of causing unnecessary cruelty to an animal despite killing another fox by driving a knife through its eye after it was caught by his bird in 2013.

Huntsman George Adams, 66, was also accused alongside Mr Mease and was convicted of using hounds to kill the fox in January 2016.

Hunting with foxes is banned - but a 2005 law permits dogs to "flush" out the fox so it can be caught by a bird of prey.

The prosecution during Adams' and Mr Mease's trial maintained the eagle was used as a "smokescreen" to allow the hunt to continue as it had before the ban.

Peterborough Magistrates Court was shown headcam footage from Mr Mease in November 2013, when he used the golden eagle to catch a fox.

The court heard the hunt’s hounds were used to flush the animal out into the open before the eagle was released to catch the fleeing mammal.

He would then ride up to the bird and the prey on a quad-bike and then make sure the fox was killed humanely.

The court heard it took him 47 seconds to kill the fox from the moment it was caught by the eagle.

He said while it would have been better to have killed the fox quicker, "no-one else could have done it quicker".

Mr Mease denied hunting for sport and added: “Not at all. I am employed as a pest controller.

“I respect all animals. I don’t get pleasure in dispatching a fox. There is no nice death. This is just how it is."

Mr Mease and Adams were also accused of using hounds to kill the fox.

Video footage by hunt saboteur Stephen Milton played to the court showed a 40-hound hunt in a field near Wansford and a hunting horn could be heard.

The court heard the hounds got the scent of the fox and Mr Milton said he did not hear anyone from the hunt calling the dogs off the fox.

Video footage taken from Mr Mease's headcam showed him saying the fox would have escaped had hunt saboteurs not blocked its escape route - something they denied in court.

The fox was killed by the pack of hounds and Mr Mease's golden eagle was not released - and he did not tell Adams to call off the hunt, the court heard.

Adams, who joined the Fitzwilliam Hunt in 1981 and became a huntsman in 1984, told the court he had not seen the fox before it was killed.

When asked if it was his intention to kill the fox with hounds, he said: “Absolutely not. We wanted to flush it out for the bird of prey.”

Mr Mease told the court there was no chance for him to release his golden eagle because the saboteurs were in the field.

Asked why he did not radio Adams to call the hunt off, he said: “A hunt is a fluid thing. It was changing minute by minute.

“It was the heat of the moment and it was the first time I had come across saboteurs in my 11 years."

He told the court he was in charge of the bird - but had no control over the pack of hounds, which was Adams’ responsibility.

District Judge John Woollard said he had heard no evidence the hunt had made any changes to their activities - other than using the falconer - since the hunting act was brought in in 2005.

Joe Bird, prosecuting, labelled Mr Mease and his eagle a "smokescreen" used by the hunt to allow it to continue as it had before the ban.

He said: "The set up was never going to work. It was a smokescreen.

"There were so many occasions when they would not have been able to fly the eagle."

Stephen Welford, defending both men, said: "There is video footage of Mease using his eagle to kill a fox. That would not exist if it was a smokescreen."

Both men denied the charges and, following a two-day trial, Adams was convicted of using hounds to kill a fox.

He was fined £1,000 and ordered to pay a £100 victim surcharge and £930 costs.

Mr Mease was found not guilty of the charge, and also not guilty of causing unnecessary cruelty to an animal relating to hunting of a fox in 2013.

Judge Woollard said it was clear he had no control over the hounds during the hunt.

SWNS