Dwaine Tavernor 34 yrs of Knotton Road, Sheffield has pleaded guilty possessing a wild Tawny owl at Sheffield Magistrates Court on 8th March 2017.

Police visited Tavernor’s home on 4th September 2016 where they found a Tawny owl which was wearing a leg ring indicating that it was bird that had been lawfully bred in captivity. However, when officers from the National Wildlife Crime Unit made inquiries about the provenance of the owl they found that the ring had originally been fitted to a captive bred Barn owl. Subsequent inquiries indicated that that Barn owl had been lawfully bred in captivity and had been sold to Tavernor. However, at some stage the ring has been removed from the Barn owl and placed on the Tawny owl.

Tavernor was charged with possessing a wild Tawny owl, an offence to which he has now pleaded guilty. A further charge relating to the possession of a European Eagle owl was withdrawn.

Tavernor was sentenced on 10th April 2017 for the offence relating to the possession of the Tawny owl, plus offences under the Animal Welfare Act 2006 relating to unnecessary suffering to dogs in his possession, to which had already entered guilty pleas. The court ordered a 12 month Community Penalty and ordered him to undertake up to 25 Activity days, he was ordered to pay £85 costs. Tavernor was also banned from keeping any animal, except for domestic fish, for a period of 2 years. The court also ordered the forfeiture of the Tawny owl. Tavernor voluntarily signed a disclaimer for a European Eagle Owl that had been seized by Police.

During the investigation, the NWCU identified another individual that had made false statements to obtain permits to sell Annex ‘A’ species (Barn owls), this was not directly linked to offence committed by Tavernor and the offender was dealt with by way of a caution.