A compulsive Swedish collector was sent to jail today for trapping more than 13,000 wild birds, including protected species, and keeping hundreds captive, according to news reports.
Pierre Johansson, 39, who was charged in March, was sentenced to 18 months for aggravated hunting crimes, animal cruelty and violating Sweden's protected-species laws. From January 2005 until being caught in June 2010, prosecutors said, he used illegal nets and traps to snag the birds, including owls, falcons, hawks, sparrows, pheasants and woodpeckers, and also took eggs and baby birds from nests.
Johansson freed most after recording extensive notes but kept several hundreds caged in his garage and in a henhouse, theAssociated Press says, following up on reports from the English-language news site The Local. Police also found a mink and a European polecat running loose on his glassed-in balcony in Hudiksvall.
"He said himself during questioning that he has a great interest in birds, which managed to get out of hand," prosecutor Christer Jarlas said. At his trial, Johansson testified that "he understood what he had done was wrong but that he always tried to act in the best interests of the animals," The Localwrites.
The chairman of the Swedish Ornithological Society said Johansson's obsession likely had a negative impact on several rare species, especially the three-toed woodpecker and the eagle-owl.
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