Natural England

James Alexander, a Director of the farm contracting business Primewest Limited from Chipping Norton, Oxfordshire was today sentenced to perform 225 hours of Community Service and ordered to pay £250 in costs after pleading guilty to four offences of causing unnecessary suffering to animals and two in relation to the failure to make proper records of pesticide treatments following a hearing at Melton Mowbray Magistrates Court on Tuesday 27 February 2007.

Alexander was also ordered to pay a compensation order of £2,021.71 in respect of veterinary fees and the costs of replacing three of the dogs that tragically died in this case.

Following Tuesday's hearing, presiding Magistrate Michael Parkes told Alexander "The aggravating circumstances that overwhelm this case are that three animals ultimately died and another one sustained severe trauma as a result of the spillage.

There was a delay period in anything being done about the spillage of ten days and no appropriate action was taken. Although you were aware that a spillage had taken place, you assumed that the spillage had been cleared up by someone else. You didn't attempt to clear it up yourself or check that this had been done correctly."

Alexander failed to clear up spilt slug pellets on a Leicestershire farm on which he had been engaged to work. This resulted in two dogs dying and two becoming seriously ill. One of the ill dogs had to be put to sleep by a vet despite treatment. The last dog recovered.

The case arose when the dogs fell ill after people living nearby walked them on farmland known as "Airfield Field" at Leesthorpe, Leicestershire in September 2005. The farm's owner had contracted Primewest Limited to drill the field and apply slug pellets to it. During the work, Alexander failed to clear up spilt slug pellets.

The incident was investigated jointly by Leicestershire Police Wildlife Crime Officer Neil Hughes and Paul Cantwell from Natural England.

Speaking after the case, Neil Hughes said: "We found that the dogs involved had eaten slug pellets which had been spilt on the ground. Even small amounts of spilt slug pellets pose a substantial risk of death or serious injury to dogs and wildlife such as foxes, badgers and birds that may eat them.

"As Police Wildlife Crime Officers, we work very closely with Paul and his colleagues in Natural England's Wildlife Management and Licensing Service and the successful result in this case goes to illustrate the success of partnership working when dealing with environmental and wildlife crime".

Paul Cantwell, Wildlife Management Adviser with Natural England said: "This case underlines the importance for everyone who uses pesticides to read the label very carefully and follow all instructions given. In this particular case, the product's label specifically required that all spillages be cleared up and the defendant failed to do this. Although some of the dogs were not on a public right of way when eating from the spilt pellets, they could still be eaten by other non-target species such as badgers and birds. The dogs' owners had been walking on the land with the full knowledge of the farm."

"I would like to offer a timely reminder to farmers and farming contractors to make sure that their staff are properly trained to use pesticides and the need for proper record keeping. They must also abide by the approval conditions for use of the products as well as taking all reasonable precautions to protect the health of human beings, creatures and plants, safeguard the environment and in particular, avoid the pollution of water.

In addition, professional users of pesticides should make sure they read and follow the Defra Code of Practice for Using Plant Protection Products when carrying out their work. This case goes to illustrate that the Police and Natural England will investigate and bring to the Courts cases where this does not occur and wildlife, companion animals or the wider environment is adversely affected.

I would like to thank both Neil Hughes and Marguerite Lewis from Leicestershire Crown Prosecution Service for their work in relation to this case."

Notes to Editors

1. The offences prosecuted were:

• Four counts of causing unnecessary suffering to the dogs involved in this case contrary to Section 1(1) of the Protection of Animals Act 1911.
• Two offences relating to a failure to keep adequate records of pesticide use contrary to the Control of Pesticides Regulations 1986. One of these offences related to the field at Leesthorpe and the other to another field at Burton Lazars. On both fields slug pellets were applied by Alexander.

2. The Wildlife Incident Investigation Scheme (WIIS) investigates cases of suspected poisoning of wildlife by pesticides in the UK. In England this work is undertaken by Wildlife Management Advisers of Natural England's Wildlife Management & Licensing Service, on behalf of the Pesticide Safety Directorate (PSD) who are responsible for policy with regard to pesticides. The public can help tackle illegal poisoning by reporting suspicious animal carcasses to the freephone hotline on 0800 321600. They should provide information on the location of the incident, number of suspected baits/casualties, why they believe pesticides are involved, and contact details. Outside normal office hours an answer phone service operates. The Campaign Against illegal Poisoning of Wildlife is aimed at deterring the illegal and careless use of pesticides, and offers advice on legal pest control.

Enquiries into incidents often involve the Veterinary Laboratory Agency (VLA) who undertake post mortem examinations on casualty animals and the Central Science Laboratory (CSL) Wildlife Incident Unit who carry out pesticide analysis on samples obtained during investigations.

The Scheme provides a unique means of post-registration surveillance of pesticide use, so that product approvals can be revised if necessary. In addition, it provides a measure of the success of the pesticide registration process, and helps in the verification and improvement of the risk assessments made in this process. Evidence from the Scheme may also be used to enforce legislation on the use of pesticides and the protection of humans, food, the environment and animals.

More information on the scheme (including previous years' annual reports) can be found on the Pesticides Safety Directorate website.

3. The Control of Pesticides Regulations 1986 (as amended), made under the Food and Environment Protection Act 1985, make it an offence, amongst other things, to fail to follow the approval conditions for use of a pesticide product and to fail to take all reasonable precautions (when using pesticides) to protect the health of human beings, creatures and plants, safeguard the environment and in particular, avoid the pollution of water.

4. The Pesticides Safety Directorate is an Executive Agency of the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra). PSD regulates agricultural, horticultural, forestry, food storage and home garden pesticides. Its main functions are to evaluate and process applications for approval of pesticide products for use in Great Britain and provide advice to Government on pesticides policy.

5. More information on the Defra Code of Practice for Using Plant Protection Products can be found on the PSD website

6. Natural England works for people, places and nature to conserve and enhance biodiversity, landscapes and wildlife in rural, urban, coastal and marine areas. We conserve and enhance the natural environment for its intrinsic value, the wellbeing and enjoyment of people, and the economic prosperity it brings. We increase opportunities to make the natural environment an enriching part of people's everyday lives, and improve its long term security by contributing to the sustainable management of our natural resources.

For further information contact Natural England's Press Office on 0845 603 9953, 07970 098005 or Leicestershire Police on 0116 222 22 22 ext 2798