A wildlife enthusiast yesterday defended his collection of rare birds and eggs – a hobby which landed him in court.
Police found 1,296 eggs when they raided John Dodsworth’s home in Rodin Avenue, Whiteleas, South Shields, two years ago.
Officers wearing riot gear beat down his door, confiscated a haul of precious specimens and even pulled the body of a dead swan from his freezer.
They also found two golden eagle eggs, two honey buzzard eggs and four Egyptian vulture eggs along with a stuffed rare Montagu’s harrier, four owls, a marsh harrier and a honey buzzard.
But on Wednesday the 48-year-old asbestos company supervisor was cleared of three counts of purchasing protected specimens by a jury at Newcastle Crown Court.
Last night Mr Dodsworth defended the collection. He said: “There is nothing suspicious about it. There’s nothing wrong with what I do and I will carry on doing it.
“I haven’t done anything wrong and I won’t stop doing it. I collect these things because it’s part of the natural history and that’s what interests me.
“It’s the beauty of them and some of them used to belong to very important people. I have been involved in it all my life.”
The walls of Mr Dodsworth’s home are adorned with an array of stuffed rare birds and animals.
Among his collection is a red squirrel, two waxwings, a snowy owl, a peregrine falcon, a pine marten and a hobby, a migratory bird of prey. In his back garden he keeps a sanctuary of live birds including two peregrine falcons, two snowy owls, one harris hawk, a barn owl, a jay and two golden pheasants.
During the raid on October 10, 2006, officers found the body of a swan in a chest freezer.
Last night the father of six said he had found the swan injured in a park and taken it home to care for it but it had died.
He said: “I was going to send it to the taxidermist – not for me, but for someone else. I had found it emaciated and I wanted to make sure it would live.
“But it died in the arms of one of my daughters – she was devastated.”
Mr Dodsworth is still awaiting the return of a number of items from his collection. Today he is expected to collect a stuffed otter from the police.
He said: “The last two years have been terrible. It’s been embarrassing for the kids – they are just teenagers – and when the house was raided there were pictures of dead swans everywhere.
“People kept asking if someone had been murdered. It’s been hanging over my head and it’s taken a crown court trial lasting more than a week for me to clear my name. Just imagine the expense to the public.”
I collect these things because it’s part of the natural history and that’s what interests me
[source: Journal Live]
