CONVICTED (2023) | Robert Taylor, born c. 1988, of Standersfoot Place, Chell Heath. Stoke-on-Trent ST6 6HR – found with a dead gosling in his bath.
Robert Taylor, an employee of Churchill China, was fined after a gosling he had taken from a canal path died in his bath.
Taylor was interviewed by police when they received information about an incident at Taylor’s home on June 12, 2023.
Prosecutor Sue Hayers said: “They attended and discovered a gosling dead in a bath with a small amount of water in it. He [Taylor] was arrested.”
In his police interview Taylor said he had taken the bird from a canal towpath. He said he thought he was doing the right thing. He said he intended to call the RSPCA or the RSPB but neither organisation was alerted.
He said when he got home he put the gosling in a bath of water. He then went and got drunk. It was then too late to call anyone. He woke up, saw the bird and did not do anything. By the time he woke again the bird was dead and the police had arrived.
Taylor pleaded guilty to taking a wild bird.
Sentencing | fined £250 plus £100 costs and £100 surcharge.