Not content with the annual mass slaughter of millions of animals across Scotland (e.g. hares, rabbits, foxes, crows, stoats), landowners are pushing the Scottish government to issue licences to kill protected birds, including raptors.
According to an article in today’s Scotsman, in a forthcoming documentary on illegal raptor persecution in Scotland, Douglas McAdam of the SRPBA puts forward the argument for licences, claiming that they will reduce the incentive for landowners and gamekeepers to illegally poison and shoot protected species.
So what’s wrong with this logic? Well, in my opinion, nothing if you are a criminal, wanting to commit a crime but not be prosecuted for it. Perhaps we should all ask the government for a licence to walk into shops and take what we want? It would certainly be an incentive to stop the criminal activity of shoplifting but the only ones to benefit would be the shoplifters, not society as a whole. Who would benefit from the licensed killing of protected birds? The landowners. The rest of society would be left all the poorer for the loss of our magnificent species.
There’s nothing illegal about the SRPBA asking for the issue of licences – they are perfectly entitled to do this, and there is even a provision in the Scottish legislation to allow for the issue of licences. Fortunately, so far, our government has not been swayed by the argument and has called instead for a reduction in raptor persecution. So far this year there isn’t any evidence that raptor persecution is on the decline – the discovery of poisoned buzzards, poisoned bait, and most recently another poisoned golden eagle, tells us that these filthy criminal activities are continuing with impunity on Scottish shooting estates.
Of course, this isn’t the first time we have heard about the call for licences. The SGA has been campaigning for over ten years for the right to kill protected raptors, including hen harriers and buzzards. We have covered this topic extensively – see here, here, here, here, here, here, here and here.
No doubt these licence requests will persist – regardless of all the scientific evidence that shows how badly damaged our raptor populations already are thanks to the efforts of landowners and gamekeepers across Scotland.
Scotsman article about forthcoming documentary: http://www.scotsman.com/environment/Landowners-demand-right-to-cull.6764420.jp
Raptor Persecution UK 
What we should be lobbying the Scottish Goverment for is the total removal of all grants and subsidies to any landowner who does not have a proven wildlife protection record and does not have a healthy population of protected Raptors in any suitable habitat on his/her land. Any land owner found to have poisoned, shot or trapped any Raptors, or be in posession of any banned poisons on his land under whatever circumstances, should have all grants and subsidies stopped or removed immediately until he/she has proved beyond a shadow of doubt that they are not responsible and have changed their ways.
In the current state of decline that our persecuted Raptors find themselves in, thank’s to the continued criminal activities of the majority of shooting estates, there should be no proposed culls of any Raptor for whatever trumped up reason these criminal landowners can think up.
We should be lobbying our local MSP and ensuring he has the full picture regarding this wildlife murder and illegal poisoning, we should be telling him that rather than listening to the outrageous claims of the landowners proposing the Raptor culls, we should be enforcing our wildlife protection laws to the full and bringing the criminals to justice.
Maybe we can start our own petition to the Scottish Government on this forum.
nirofo.
would just like to ask what do you think your raptors feed on ? because i have some photos of lambs that have killed by raptors and would have to say its a horrific death.
Lambs/Sheep have been introduced by man for the production of wool and food and to make a profit for the Farmer/Landowner. Raptors have been here in some shape or form since the beginning of time. Why should a natural being suffer for mans greed. What are the amounts of lambs that are killed by Raptors, very few. What are the amounts of lambs that are killed by man 100% Man should not be killing Wildlife just he can make more and more profit from his domestic beasts. The persecution of wildlife is down to mans “GREED” and must be stopped. We have to learn to live with Wildlife not kill it. It would be a very dull boring world without Wildlife.
farmers/landowners are the people that are looking after the country side. I’m not saying kill all raptors, although, i do think that some breeds need to be controled and a balance found. Making a living is very hard so saying that it comes down to greed is totaly wrong and ignorant. As for saying 100% of lamb killed by man, if that was the case what would we be breeding from? Any lambs that go into the foodchain are humainly dispatched unlike the ones killed by raptor which suffer a slow and painful death. Livestock is controled on the hill at sustainable levels that the enviroment can handle. We control deer, why cant raptors be controled in the same way?
Yuo’re right, farmers don’t kill 100% of their lambs, some die due to neglect due to bad husbandry, sometimes a long and lingering death; some die of illness, some die of injury and a very very small percentage are taken live by Eagles in order to feed themselves and their young just the same as we do. Difference is they do it to survive, the farmers and landowners do it for profit! The remaining (surviving) lambs are eventually killed by man even after being used for breeding.
Farmers/Landowners look after the countryside do they, are these the same ones who drain the fields, rip out the hedgerows, spray weedkillers and pesticides, intensively farm to such an extent that there’s nothing left for the birds etc to feed on. Oh yes, then there’s the ones who drain and burn the moorland and kill the Hares so it’s more suitable for artificially overstocked Red Grouse, and of course this also includes the removal of all the so-called “VERMIN ???”.
nirofo.