Lord Palmer's Manderston House and Cruel Fenn Trap

Cruel Trap discovered on land owned by Lord Palmer and set a few hundred yards from Manderston House, Duns, Berwickshire, Scotland.

Lord Palmer's Manderston House, Duns, Berwickshire, Scotland

Fenn traps such as this can legally be set in man-made tunnels to catch animals such as stoats and weasels. However, this trap, baited with a rabbit has such a large entrance, a fox cub would certainly get in and get its face smashed by the trap - and perhaps, given the blood this had already happened?

Investigators from the League Against Cruel Sports have reported finding the area littered with snares after investigating the estate following anonymous allegations that gamekeepers killed badgers, used poison, and trapped and shot birds of prey. The allegations even claimed that beaters considered the duck shoots to be a slaughter as they had to kick the birds into the sky for the guns. While there was apparently no specific evidence found to support these allegations, investigators believe the trapping and snaring methods show a ruthless approach. We at the NASC believe this indicates there was no smoke without fire behind the allegations.

The Manderston shoot is run by a Dutch man called Christian Korsten, who uses Dutch gamekeepers. The irony is that Holland has banned snares and game-bird shooting. As one pundit unkindly put it: “It looks like the Dutch have been forced to come over and **** on our doorstep.”

Update

NASC has received correspondence from Lord Palmer who is keen to resolve any issue of illegal trapping and snaring on his estate. He has asked Christian Korstan, his Dutch shooting tenant, to see that Fenn trap openings are reduced to exclude non target species, and also asked Mr Korstan to remove snares from a pond area where investigators had seen badger movement. However, he would not give an undertaking to request his tenant to remove all snares on the estate and so unfortunately badgers are still in danger at Manderston.