Police make arrests in badger baiting raids

Three men have been arrested on suspicion of badger baiting.

Police arrested two men from Knottingley on Thursday morning and the RSPCA seized three dogs.

A third man from North Yorkshire is also being questioned.

Five other dogs and mobile phones were also seized during the raid.

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RSPCA chief inspector Justin Le Masurier said: “Where we have information leading us to suspect that people may be involved in this kind of barbaric, deliberate cruelty to animals we will investigate.

“Badger baiting inflicts terrible suffering on both the badgers and frequently the dogs, which are invariably badly injured and often don’t receive any veterinary treatment for those injuries.

“We hope this sends a strong message to anyone involved in this so called ‘sport’ – we could be knocking on your door next.”

The dogs have all been placed in the care of the RSPCA.

Insp Richard Sullivan of the Pontefract and Knottingley NPT, West Yorkshire Police, said: “We were pleased to take part in this joint operation today with colleagues from the RSPCA and North Yorkshire Police.

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“We have arrested a man in Knottingley on suspicion of animal cruelty offences and recovered a number of dogs from an address there, which are now in the care of our RSPCA colleagues.”

Anyone with information should call police on 101.