RSPCA honours artist who helped to catch badger baiters

A YORKSHIRE artist who helped bring a gang involved in badger baiting to court has been presented with an award from the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals.

Robert E Fuller, who contributes occasional columns to the Yorkshire Post’s Country Week supplement, received the RSPCA’s Elsie MJ Evans Award for “outstanding bravery”.

Mr Fuller was out taking photographs of wildlife which he hoped to use as the basis for his paintings when he stumbled across the gang as they urged their dogs to tear apart three badgers, including a pregnant sow.

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It was his quick action in calling the police to the scene and staying to photograph the culprits as their dogs tortured the protected animals that provided the key evidence in the subsequent trial.

Mr Fuller’s evidence and help resulted in seven badger baiters being put on trial in what the RSPCA described as “the most significant case of its kind”.

William Anderson, 26, of Pickering, 32-year-old Alan Alexander, Richard Simpson, 37, and Paul Tindall, 31, were all sentenced to 16 weeks in prison for their part in the baiting.

Christopher Holmes and Malcolm Warner, both 28, admitted the offences at an earlier hearing and escaped with 12-week suspended prison sentences. A 17-year-old youth was given a rehabilitation order.

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Anderson has since reportedly been the subject of harassment from animal rights groups.

“I knew that badger baiting took place but it didn’t really hit home until I saw it with my own eyes,” Mr Fuller said. “I was very shocked.

“This took place in broad daylight by a public footpath on a Sunday afternoon.

“The local police acted very quickly. They took the problem seriously and these men were brought to justice. People in the countryside need to work together to tackle rural crime.”

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The artist, who is based at Thixendale, near York, was presented with the accolade at the RSPCA’s annual honours ceremony in Horsham, West Sussex, on Saturday by celebrated birdwatcher Bill Oddie.

The Elise MJ Evans Award is issued annually in recognition of an act of “outstanding kindness or bravery” towards animals.

Badger baiting remains a problem in some parts of rural England despite the practice having been made illegal more than 170 years ago.