A ROSYTH DOCKYARD worker who tried to sell tiger claws fell foul of international law protecting endangered species.

The eBay auction started by Gary Whyte was spotted by a cop in the National Wildlife Crime Unit.

Whyte avoided a jail sentence when he appeared at Dunfermline Sheriff Court on Monday. Instead, he will carry out 250 hours of unpaid work as part of a community payback order.

Police had obtained a search warrant and found the animal parts in Whyte’s home. He told officers: “I didn’t know what I was buying at the time.”

Whyte, 50, ended up in the dock for breaching European regulations controlling trade in endangered species.

He bought the claws along with other items at an auction room in Dunfermline for £28.75.

He purchased an auction lot described as “a small box of various fossils, claws and teeth”.

He put the tiger claws up for sale on eBay and the selling price was sitting at £102 when police moved in and recovered them.

Whyte, of Anderson Drive, Cowdenbeath, admitted that between July 19-29, 2015, by using eBay, he advertised for sale and sold a quantity of items described as “tiger claws”.

Depute fiscal Kate Fleming previously told the court that there were 10 tiger claws put up for sale and six of these had been confirmed as being genuine.

Whyte’s solicitor, Peter Mullin, said his client had bought the box for a work colleague whose grand-daughter collected fossils.

He added his client usually traded online in motorcycle parts and was a regular visitor to the Dunfermline auction room.

“He assumed if one purchases something from an auction one is purchasing something that is not illegal,” said Mr Mullin.

“Thereafter, he failed perhaps to do enough research before selling them online.”

Mr Mullin said his client had been buying and selling items for 10 years. “He’s just a part-time dealer. It’s a hobby.”

The solicitor added: “There was nothing clandestine about his attempt to sell. It was a blatant advertisement for tiger claws from somebody who didn’t think he was doing anything wrong.”

Sheriff Charles Macnair told Whyte: “Once you realised what it was you had purchased you should have reported the matter to the police.

“Instead you advertised them on eBay in order to make a profit.”

The sheriff said the offence was worthy of a custodial sentence but as a direct alternative he would impose a community payback order.

The world’s most endangered species are given protection under CITES (the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species) with tigers classed in the highest category.