CONVICTED (2023) | gamekeeper Ryan Martin, born 28 August 2000, of Balmanno Cottages, Marykirk, Laurencekirk AB30 1US – set his dogs on foxes and badgers and filmed the carnage.

Martin, who is employed as a gamekeeper, posted twisted videos to TikTok and Snapchat showing bloody clashes between his dogs and foxes or badgers. Martin is heard on the videos goading his dogs into attacking the wild animals.

Martin was prosecuted following an investigation by the Scottish SPCA’s Special Investigations Unit (SIU) after they received intelligence in January 2022.

On February 9, 2022, SSPCA inspectors and police officers visited Martin at the home he shares with fiancée Lia Stewart in the Aberdeenshire village of Marykirk.

A search was undertaken of the property and Martin’s mobile phone was seized. Three dogs, who looked similar to those in Martin’s social media videos, were also removed. .

The seized dogs, who all had fresh and historical animal fighting injuries, were brindle lurcher Boss, tan and white lurcher Storm and brindle deerhound/greyhound Beau.

The dogs were examined by a vet who concluded: “It is my opinion that these dogs have been repeatedly involved in fighting with other animals and, in the case of Storm, the injuries are consistent with fighting with a badger.

“The injuries in Beau do not exclude fighting with badgers. The injuries in these dogs would have caused them pain and suffering.

“In summary, it is my considered opinion that these dogs were involved in illegal wild animal fighting activities.

“The type and distribution of injuries on Storm is consistent with wounds sustained during ‘badger baiting’ – an illegal activity where both the dogs and badgers suffer a great deal.”

Boss was found to have multiple healed injuries and scars, as well as a “deformity” to the lower lip. These injuries were deemed by a vet “consistent with, but not exclusive to, wild animal fighting injuries”.

Forensic examination of Martin’s phone uncovered numerous videos of his dogs fighting with foxes and badgers.

One 60-second video, which had been posted to Snapchat, showed Storm with the top of a badger’s head in her mouth whilst Beau and Boss are biting and attacking the badger all over his body and legs.

Depute fiscal Clair Stewart told the court: “The badger’s head and body are heavily blood-stained. A dog can be heard squealing and the badger can be seen to have a hold of Storm’s snout and lower jaw within its mouth.

“Throughout this clip, the accused can be heard shouting, ‘Get on, get on, chi chi chi chi’.”

Storm is seen “gripping the badger’s head in her mouth” while Beau and Boss bite at the badger, which is “twisting and wriggling on the roadway”.

Ms Stewart continued: “Storm’s face is buried into the chest of the badger, which appears to have a grip of her by her face.

“The accused can still be heard shouting encouragement to the dogs,

‘Get on, dogs, get on, get in there, chi chi chi.

“The video ends with Beau and Storm sitting within the rear of a vehicle with bleeding and fresh injuries to their noses.

“The accused can be heard to say, ‘Look at her, man. Go on, dogs. Piggies. Wayhay.’”

Pigs or piggies is a slang term for badgers commonly used by wildlife criminals like Martin.

A second video, posted on TikTok, shows Storm standing in a field with blood around her chest, face and head.

Storm and an unidentified lurcher dog then attack a live badger before the video cuts into another where a fox “appears to have Storm by the collar”.

At the start of a third video, posted on TikTok, Martin tells his audience: “Hold on to your fucking hats. What you’re about to see isn’t 100% legal”.

A series of photographs then show several dogs standing in a field followed by a video of Storm beside a dead fox lying on the ground.

Martin initially denied causing his dogs to fight with badgers and foxes on various occasions but later changed his plea to guilty.

His lawyer Gregor Kelly of Lefevre Litigation initially claimed his client was “out at night shooting foxes as he thinks he’s entitled to do with his dogs.”

Kelly continued: “At the time, when foxes have been shot, he encourages the dogs to go and retrieve, as they’re trained to do, and dispatch the foxes.

“On one occasion, they encountered a badger.”

Kelly conceded that “immature” and “frightened” Martin saw foxes and badgers as “vermin” but “accepts these are views not acceptable in modern Scotland”.

He told the court that Martin planned to work as a joiner to support his partner and children in the future.

Sheriff Ian Wallace told Martin: “I don’t accept the explanation you gave to the social worker.

“It’s clear from the narrative you were causing, intentionally, these animals to fight and that caused injuries and/or death to not just the foxes and badgers but to your own dogs.”

Martin has since signed ownership of the dogs over to the SSPCA, which has rehomed them.

Sentencing | 175 hours of unpaid work. Banned from keeping or working with dogs for just five years (expires December 2028).

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