This is just blatant two fingers to you mate, we don’t care if these birds are protected we’re going to kill them anyway so there. it must be obvious to everyone by now that the shooting estates heirarchy have got the police and the courts eating out of their hands, [Ed: deleted]. The so-called enviromental protection agencies, namely SNH and NE have their hands tied behing their backs and are cow-towing to their lords and masters who are [Ed: deleted]
I’m a pretty law- abiding guy, and have been happy to trust the police and COPFS, but enough’s enough. If someone were to chuck a mink into a pheasant- rearing cage I’d be struggling to condemn them. The situation is now beyond a joke.
I was always under the impression that wildlife crimes in Malta and Cyprus were amongst the worst in Europe. I think it would be fair to say that this country is no better. What is the point in having a police force and a judicial system that does absolutely nothing where wildlife crime is concerned? It really is time for the Scottish government to lead the way in tackling this. Considering there is scientific evidence to show that those that harm animals are more likely to inflict harm on other humans, then surely it is about time that those in power started to look at these facts.
I am not against those that want to shoot for the pot, but it is getting to the stage that I would happily see the end of all shooting in this country.
Until the postmortem results come back let’s not jump to any conclusions it’s still possible it died of natural causes. It shouldnt be long until the cause of death is published.
Well, considering that the bird died two weeks ago and nothing was put out until today, I’m quite happy to jump to the conclusion that this bird was indeed killed on a grouse moor by a gamekeeper who is a paid-up member of the SGA.
The fact that the release of this statement coincides with the press release of the dead Golden Eagle is a deliberate attempt to bury the story.
The Langholm study is conducted as a partenership between many different groups including the RSPB abd SNH why would they deliberately want to bury the story?! This is just a rediculous conspiracy theory. They would want maximum publicity from such a thing happening! According to the report the tag stopped transmitting two weeks ago so a certain amount of time would have been given to make sure this wasn’t equipment malfunction then time to find the body etc etc. Surely if they had had it in hand for a fortnight by now they would have a rough idea about cause of death?
Is it outwith the realms of possibility that the Langholm management team and SNH decided that the RSPB should be kept in the dark about this incident, just as Natural England have withheld information about tagged Hen Harriers in England? And if you bothered to read the posts on this website you would realise that there are some incident statements that are eventually released many months after the killing, so that effectively cancels out your maximum publicity theory.
Now, the direct quote from the website reads “Sadly Blae’s signal indicated that she had died south of Edinburgh about two weeks ago, her carcass was recovered and is undergoing a postmortem”, so it would be a great help if you would actually read the statement instead of being an apologist for the criminal element of this nation. No-one mentioned that the tag stopped transmitting (if it stopped transmitting, how do you think they managed to find the bird!), so to make it easy for you, I will offer my impression of the course of events.
1. The tag continues to transmit a signal yet there is no movement for a few days.
2. Realising that something is wrong (i.e. the bird has probably been killed by a gamekeeper), the team send someone out to search for the bird.
3. The bird is eventually found and sent off for analysis.
4. Analysis is carried out.
So, by the time that all of this has happened, a rough estimate of two weeks has passed, so we should know in the next few days if the bird was indeed killed illegally, by a gamekeeper, on a game estate.
I wonder what jail sentance you would get if you were knockin off a few estate grouse to feed your kids?? – these shooting estates really are something from the dark ages!!
Maybe its time for the Government to impose a restriction and proviso on grant aid to these so called “sporting estates”?
If any protected bird of prey is found deliberately killed on one of these estates…no excuses, just an immediate withdrawal of all public money for a number of years.
After all these extremely wealthy land owners seem to be a greedy lot and are looking for every pound of your money, without a care for the environment and its wild creatures. If the law can’t or won’t deal with the problem, maybe its time for the public to have its say. This government is about to remove various benefits from wealthier families…what’s the difference? Hit these uncontrollable estates where it hurts, in the pocket… its the only thing they understand. Keepers and their like who wantonly destroy wildlife would be made to act within the law and for once made to respect the countryside and its indigenous creatures. There’s more to life than killing.
Quote:
“Maybe its time for the Government to impose a restriction and proviso on grant aid to these so called “sporting estates”?”
You forget, quite a lot of these so-called sporting estates are owned and run by members of parliament and their cohorts. For instance look at the recent farce of the proposed capturing of Buzzards and destroying their nests by the “wildlife minister” Richard Benyon in order to protect Pheasants, strange how he just happens to own a 20,000 acre estate complete with a renowned Pheasant shoot. Hows that for hypocricy, not to mention that he intended to use £375,00 of public funds to carry out this madness. As for the gamekeepers, they are not going to turn round and bite the hand that feeds them, so don’t expect any improvement in their behaviour any time soon. Most of them like what they are doing anyway, they don’t think they are doing anything wrong and will carry on doing it even though it is illegal.
all seems very quiet maybe the police are onto something here and doors will be crashing in anytime or maybe its not a crime or maybe they are hoping to find a big enough carpet to sweep this under……………….
For fuck’s sake.
Raptor Persecution UK 
This s crazy, something needs to be done. Come on police do your job.
This is just blatant two fingers to you mate, we don’t care if these birds are protected we’re going to kill them anyway so there. it must be obvious to everyone by now that the shooting estates heirarchy have got the police and the courts eating out of their hands, [Ed: deleted]. The so-called enviromental protection agencies, namely SNH and NE have their hands tied behing their backs and are cow-towing to their lords and masters who are [Ed: deleted]
I’m a pretty law- abiding guy, and have been happy to trust the police and COPFS, but enough’s enough. If someone were to chuck a mink into a pheasant- rearing cage I’d be struggling to condemn them. The situation is now beyond a joke.
I was always under the impression that wildlife crimes in Malta and Cyprus were amongst the worst in Europe. I think it would be fair to say that this country is no better. What is the point in having a police force and a judicial system that does absolutely nothing where wildlife crime is concerned? It really is time for the Scottish government to lead the way in tackling this. Considering there is scientific evidence to show that those that harm animals are more likely to inflict harm on other humans, then surely it is about time that those in power started to look at these facts.
I am not against those that want to shoot for the pot, but it is getting to the stage that I would happily see the end of all shooting in this country.
Until the postmortem results come back let’s not jump to any conclusions it’s still possible it died of natural causes. It shouldnt be long until the cause of death is published.
Well, considering that the bird died two weeks ago and nothing was put out until today, I’m quite happy to jump to the conclusion that this bird was indeed killed on a grouse moor by a gamekeeper who is a paid-up member of the SGA.
The fact that the release of this statement coincides with the press release of the dead Golden Eagle is a deliberate attempt to bury the story.
The Langholm study is conducted as a partenership between many different groups including the RSPB abd SNH why would they deliberately want to bury the story?! This is just a rediculous conspiracy theory. They would want maximum publicity from such a thing happening! According to the report the tag stopped transmitting two weeks ago so a certain amount of time would have been given to make sure this wasn’t equipment malfunction then time to find the body etc etc. Surely if they had had it in hand for a fortnight by now they would have a rough idea about cause of death?
Is it outwith the realms of possibility that the Langholm management team and SNH decided that the RSPB should be kept in the dark about this incident, just as Natural England have withheld information about tagged Hen Harriers in England? And if you bothered to read the posts on this website you would realise that there are some incident statements that are eventually released many months after the killing, so that effectively cancels out your maximum publicity theory.
Now, the direct quote from the website reads “Sadly Blae’s signal indicated that she had died south of Edinburgh about two weeks ago, her carcass was recovered and is undergoing a postmortem”, so it would be a great help if you would actually read the statement instead of being an apologist for the criminal element of this nation. No-one mentioned that the tag stopped transmitting (if it stopped transmitting, how do you think they managed to find the bird!), so to make it easy for you, I will offer my impression of the course of events.
1. The tag continues to transmit a signal yet there is no movement for a few days.
2. Realising that something is wrong (i.e. the bird has probably been killed by a gamekeeper), the team send someone out to search for the bird.
3. The bird is eventually found and sent off for analysis.
4. Analysis is carried out.
So, by the time that all of this has happened, a rough estimate of two weeks has passed, so we should know in the next few days if the bird was indeed killed illegally, by a gamekeeper, on a game estate.
I wonder what jail sentance you would get if you were knockin off a few estate grouse to feed your kids?? – these shooting estates really are something from the dark ages!!
Maybe its time for the Government to impose a restriction and proviso on grant aid to these so called “sporting estates”?
If any protected bird of prey is found deliberately killed on one of these estates…no excuses, just an immediate withdrawal of all public money for a number of years.
After all these extremely wealthy land owners seem to be a greedy lot and are looking for every pound of your money, without a care for the environment and its wild creatures. If the law can’t or won’t deal with the problem, maybe its time for the public to have its say. This government is about to remove various benefits from wealthier families…what’s the difference? Hit these uncontrollable estates where it hurts, in the pocket… its the only thing they understand. Keepers and their like who wantonly destroy wildlife would be made to act within the law and for once made to respect the countryside and its indigenous creatures. There’s more to life than killing.
Quote:
“Maybe its time for the Government to impose a restriction and proviso on grant aid to these so called “sporting estates”?”
You forget, quite a lot of these so-called sporting estates are owned and run by members of parliament and their cohorts. For instance look at the recent farce of the proposed capturing of Buzzards and destroying their nests by the “wildlife minister” Richard Benyon in order to protect Pheasants, strange how he just happens to own a 20,000 acre estate complete with a renowned Pheasant shoot. Hows that for hypocricy, not to mention that he intended to use £375,00 of public funds to carry out this madness. As for the gamekeepers, they are not going to turn round and bite the hand that feeds them, so don’t expect any improvement in their behaviour any time soon. Most of them like what they are doing anyway, they don’t think they are doing anything wrong and will carry on doing it even though it is illegal.
all seems very quiet maybe the police are onto something here and doors will be crashing in anytime or maybe its not a crime or maybe they are hoping to find a big enough carpet to sweep this under……………….