Overview
- Thomas Munday, 35, pleaded guilty at Scarborough Magistrates’ Court on January 12 to killing a protected common buzzard in March 2024.
- He was fined £807 and ordered to pay a £323 surcharge and £85 in costs.
- An RSPB camera recorded the bird entering a cage trap before being struck with a stick, and police later identified Munday from the footage.
- North Yorkshire Police seized a stick and swabbed an ATV cab, with forensic tests confirming buzzard DNA on both items.
- RSPB leaders condemned the killing and the sentence as too lenient, while police urged the public to report suspected wildlife crime and BASC denounced the act.