Court drops charges against millionaire for shooting barnacle geese in Helsinki

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Environmentalists and legal scholars alike are surprised at the decision made by the Helsinki District Court in mid-August to drop the charges against a millionaire and commercial counsellor for despatching two protected barnacle geese (Branta leucopsis) with a shotgun in his yard in Helsinki's prosperous district of Kulosaari.
      According to the decision by the court, "From the viewpoint of the Nature Conservation Act, the killing of these protected birds was a minor offence, which is not subject to a punishment".
     
The barnacle goose is a wild bird which is protected by the Finnish Nature Conservation Act and by the European Council Directive on the conservation of wild birds. Consequently, it is prohibited to deliberately kill this bird species.
      One of the reasons for the withdrawal of charges by the District Court included the health and hygiene risks these birds represent to the environment. Over recent years, people have become more and more aware of these risks. In this case, the risks were focusing on the millionaire himself as the owner of the seaside property in Kulosaari.
     
Tapani Veistola of the Finnish Association for Nature Conservation regards the decision as completely inexplicable. "First, it is not permitted to shoot anything in the city, and second, this is a protected species".
      Timo Asanti of Finland's environmental administration says that he was angry at the ruling.
      "I think that the verdict was faulty and that the Helsinki District Court acted incorrectly. Two big mistakes were made, because the barnacle goose is a protected species and taking justice into one's own hands is against the law. It is irrelevant if the number of birds is two or 200."
      "If these birds come to one's own lawn, they can be chased away, even though it is prohibited to deliberately disturb them in any way. However, it is less serious than killing them".
     
Ari-Matti Nuutila, Professor of Criminal Law at the University of Turku, notes that "The law is quite unambiguous in stating that an individual citizen is not allowed to decide whether or not the faeces of an animal or a species are harmful to his or her own yard or lawn. I believe that the fact that the damage to the barnacle geese population in this case has been regarded as reasonably minor might have had some bearing on the court decision."
      At least according to current indications in the Helsinki region, the faeces of barnacle geese do not contain for example salmonella bacteria.


Previously in HS International Edition:
  The barnacle geese will soon be on their way... (26.10.2004)

Links:
  EU Birds Directive
  Finnish Association for Nature Conservation
  Finnish Environmental Administration

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