Elderly Violet Town woman faces Shepparton Magistrates’ Court over alleged wildlife killings

An elderly Violet Town woman is facing a truckload of charges for allegedly butchering birds and storing dead wildlife in her freezer to protect her veggie patch.

Dorothy Sloan is facing charges for allegedly butchering birds of prey and other native wildlife.

An elderly Violet Town woman is fighting more than 300 charges in relation to the deaths of more than 120 wedge-tailed eagles and other native wildlife claiming they were eating her vegetables.

Dorothy Sloan, 83, faced the Shepparton Magistrates’ Court for a hearing on Monday for matters dating back to July 2019.

Her charge sheet, which is nearly 100 pages long, has charges listed including aggravating animal cruelty, poisoning wildlife and possession of protected wildlife found on her property.

Court documents say animals found at the property included a large number of wedge-tailed eagles, ducks, galahs and several kangaroo joeys.

The prosecution for the Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning referred to “compelling evidence” that Ms Sloan engaged in acts of “just the type with which she is charged”.

Prosecutor Chris Carr also said that Ms Sloan justified the killings by claiming that the birds were attacking her vegetable patch.

“I killed them because they were eating my vegetables… they were a pest,” she allegedly told police.

Mr Carr also argued that Ms Sloan “is not perturbed” by legal restrictions that might prevent other people from baiting wedge tailed eagles, killing magpies, killing birds found in the freezer.

Dorothy Sloan on her Violet Town property back in 2017. PICTURE: ZOE PHILLIPS

Ms Sloan’s barrister Charles Morgan said If there was any doubt that Ms Sloan was the one who laid the bait that killed the birds, then she must be found innocent.

Mr Morgan argued that the prosecution had no evidence that if the crimes were committed by her son Kevin Sloan, that she was at any way complicit.

“There is no evidence to base a complicity argument”.

Mr Morgan said that the court must find her not guilty if Ms Sloan was just one of a number of people baiting birds, as the prosecution could not prove her complicity.

“The height of the crown case is that Dorothy Sloan, may have, killed an eagle in the past decade, and that has to be not guilty”.

Magistrate David Faram adjourned the matter to a later date, acknowledging the “significant amount of evidence” in the matter.