A gamekeeper involved in badger baiting filmed disturbing videos to earn money from TikTok.
Ryan Martin admitted that his motive for the horrifying footage of hunting dogs tearing wild animals apart was financial gain. He planned to create more content featuring animal torture for the social media platform, hoping to attract a large following among those who take pleasure in sadistic animal cruelty.
Despite confessing to his crimes, the wicked 23-year-old got off with a fine, community service and a five-year ban on keeping animals during a trial at Aberdeen Sheriff Court. A source told the Daily Record: "Ryan Martin was posting videos on TikTok and encouraging people to watch them. He was openly stating in captions that the level of brutality in them was so extreme that they were illegal."
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"But instead of feeling remorse for his actions, he told investigators that he could earn money from TikTok if he increased his audience. He used this as an excuse for his crime but any normal person would surely think that profiting from such a sick hobby would make things worse."
Martin, from Marykirk, Aberdeenshire, now risks losing income from breeding and training gun dogs, which he did from his cottage. He also faces the possibility of being denied a shotgun licence, which would prevent him from working as a gamekeeper.
It was revealed in court that Martin had been encouraging his dogs to engage in brutal fights with badgers and foxes. In one video shared on TikTok and Snapchat, he can be heard egging on the dogs, inciting them into a frenzy. In another video, he warned viewers that the footage "isn't 100% legal".
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Clair Stewart, prosecuting, told Aberdeen Sheriff Court that the Scottish SPCA Special Investigations Unit (SIU) and police arrived at Martin's home after discovering his videos were being publicly shared. They confiscated his phone and took three dogs into their care, all of which had faces scarred from fights. The SIU investigators believed that Martin's cruel hobby was driven by a sadistic blood-lust.
His own pets Boss the brindle lurcher, Storm the lurcher, and Beau the brindle deerhound/greyhound had all suffered painful facial injuries. A vet confirmed that these injuries were consistent with animal fighting.
Items seized from Martin's home also tested positive for badger, fox, and deer DNA, confirming his involvement in animal fighting. At the start of one particularly disturbing video posted on TikTok, he warns: "Hold on to your f****** hats. What you're about to see isn't 100% legal".
Martin pled guilty to causing dogs to fight with badgers and foxes on various occasions. Defence agent Gregor Kelly said his client was "immature", and that Martin saw foxes and badgers as vermin. "He accepts these are views not acceptable in modern Scotland", he added.
Despite that, Martin was ordered to carry out 175 hours of unpaid work along with the ban on keeping or working with dogs.
* This article was crafted with the help of an AI tool, which speeds up Daily Star's editorial research. An editor reviewed this content before it was published. You can report any errors to [email protected]
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