A fishery owner who killed an otter that had been eating valuable carp has been sent to jail in the first prosecution of its kind in the UK.
Stuart Jones, 54, shot the protected Eurasian otter with a rifle after it had been caught by an angler in his net. Jones was then owner of Lyons Gate Campsite and Fishery in Dorchester, Dorset, and had set traps for otters that had been emptying his four lakes of carp worth up to £40,000 each.
Guests at the campsite reported the slaughter last July. Jones, who pleaded guilty, was jailed for two months at Bournemouth crown court.
Dave Webb, of the UK Wild Otter Trust, said he was “over the moon” at the outcome. Jones was prosecuted for killing a wild protected animal under the Conservation of Habitats
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