16th December 2023
This is the man due to stand trial on more than 30 charges relating to alleged organised badger baiting.
Jason Lee Kennedy appeared in the dock of Enniskillen Magistrates Court last week where the lengthy list of alleged offences were put to him.
The 35-year-old is accused of not only causing unnecessary suffering to badgers by instigating six different animal fights but he is also said to have supplied recordings of animal fights to others on four separate occasions.
Kennedy, of Ross Road in Enniskillen, is further accused of causing unnecessary suffering to cats along with a single count of killing a badger.
He is also alleged to have possessed badgers or parts of badgers and to have been in possession of a dead badger or part of one.
In total Kennedy faces 36 charges under the Welfare of Animals Act and the Wildlife Order allegedly committed between June 28 and July 4 last year.
At last week’s court hearing he confirmed he understood the charges and District Judge Alana McSorley agreed to send the case to Dungannon Crown Court for Kennedy to formally enter pleas to the charges.
The case will be heard at that court for the first time on January 16, with Kennedy freed on continuing bail.
Kennedy first appeared in court in March this year following an investigation into suspected badger baiting centred around the Derrylin area of Fermanagh.
At the crown court, the offences with which Kennedy is charged carry a prison sentence of up to two years and a maximum fine of £20,000.
Although you are allowed to hunt animals with dogs in Northern Ireland, the only part of the UK where it remains legal, badgers are classed as a protected species.
While the use of a dog to hunt an unprotected species, such as a fox, is lawful the welfare of the dog or dogs used remains the responsibility of its keeper.
The USPCA has consistently called for all hunting with dogs to be made illegal in line with the legislation in the rest of the UK. In December 2021 a bill which would have outlawed the practice failed at the Assembly by 45 votes to 38.
The private members bill was brought by Alliance MLA John Blair and came with the support of not only the USPCA but a public consultation of more than 18,000 respondents, of which 80% were in favour of a ban.
eVIL CRUEL MURDERING FILTHY SCUM LIKE THIS SHOULD BE LOCKED AWAY FOR A VERY VERY .LONG TIME NOT RIDICULOUS SHORT SENTENCES OR FINES LOCK THE BASTARDS UP AND TAG THEM ON RELEASE.