SASA (the Government’s Science & Advice for Scottish Agriculture) have just published their latest ‘Summary of Incidents’ where they report on the number of animals that have been submitted for poisoning analysis, dating from January – September 2012 (see here).
It’s an interesting read. The results from the first three-quarters of 2012 suggest a decline in the number of reported raptor poisoning incidents. Does this reflect an actual decline in poisonings, or does it mask something more cynical, such as a change of tactics in the method of persecution used? Nobody can tell for sure at this stage, although you’d have to be pretty naive to believe the first explanation, especially after the recent shocking non-poisoning incidents such as the dead golden eagle found in a lay-by with two broken legs, believed to have been illegally trapped on an Angus grouse moor and then moved by vehicle in the dead of night and dumped by the side of the road, barely alive and left to suffer an horrific death. Then there was the golden eagle that was found shot and critically injured on a grouse moor in Dumfrieshire, now making a slow recovery. And then the shot hen harrier found dead on another grouse moor in Grampian. And these are just the ones we know about.
The latest SASA results show that a buzzard was found dead in Grampian in September 2012, confirmed to have been poisoned by the illegal pesticide Carbofuran. We don’t remember seeing any police reports about this incident. Perhaps they kept it quiet so as not to hinder their investigation? Fair enough, but it’s now four months later…Perhaps Grampian Police will report where was it found, and whether anyone is being charged. They probably won’t though; yet another incident being quietly swept under the carpet? We blogged about these poisoning incidents going unreported the last time SASA published their stats (see here).
There were a number of dead buzzards that were submitted to SASA for testing between Jan-Sept 2012, including the satellite-tagged ‘Buzz’, believed to be the first sat-tracked buzzard in Scotland (see here). His last signal came from near Brechin, Angus in late September. His corpse was picked up by the side of the road. Given the location and the on-going history of raptor persecution in the nearby area, his body was submitted for a post-mortem. He hadn’t been poisoned though – SASA concluded that his probable cause of death was starvation. It would have been nice if Tayside Police had provided information about this result, given so many were following his movements on Roy Dennis’ website…
Buzz wasn’t the only buzzard to starve to death. There are four other buzzards listed in the report with the same probable cause of death; strange really, when there are some people who maintain that buzzards are gorging themselves silly on gamebirds.
Interestingly, the dead golden eagle found in suspicious circumstances on Harris in June did not not appear in the SASA results, even though the press reported at the time that poisoning was suspected (see here). Perhaps Northern Constabulary will provide an update on the outcome of this one? Yeah, you’re right, of course they won’t.
Raptor Persecution UK 
I always feel sick and powerless before opening my emails from this site! My friends and I own land in Scotland, and we have buzzards, peregrines and hen harriers nesting there. Otters, pine marten, red squirrel and up to 20 species of butterfly have been recorded on one of the sites. What appalls a lot of people, is the ineffectiveness of the police, judiciary and government bodies in enforcing the laws governing the persecution of birds of prey. On the BBC news recently, a clip showed young trainee gamekeepers and their lecturer assuring us that they were being trained to obey the law. Can anyone take that seriously? In England, the hen harrier hardly exists, due to the power of those who own the land and their cronies making it easy for the persecutors to escape real justice. These people are an anachronism in the Britain of today. A new regime of land ownership is needed, whereby those entrusted with the land, have to recognise the stringent conditions under which they can operate. Do the judiciary, fiscal service, police and those politicians serving vested interests, realise how much contempt the public has for them, when they act in such a biased manner by serving the game shooting “industry”? Shooting can exist, but only within the law.
Trainee gamekeepers have been getting training in wildlife law matters for decades now – at Borders College/Cupar and Thurso off and on ….a few of the “graduates” have been involved in reported wildlife crimes..far more significant however is that the great majority of these students will never get a gamekeeping job. Two many after too few jobs. Also important is the fact that their employers do not have such training – although I never saw many folk using ignorance of the law as a believable excuse…and of the boss says “jump” they jump…
As for the legal establishment…they know that conservationists hold them in contempt on this issue but the general public still need to make their voice heard. Another reason why this blog is so important. Spread the word!
Criminals still ruling our countryside and the law seems powerless to stop them!
The law is not powerless to stop them it is just unwilling either through peer pressure or self interest.
The use of poison may well diminish, but persecution will probably not do so.
Poisoning leaves evidence in the dead bird which may be found, which is a risk. Possession of poison is an offence so that is another risk.
Clam traps – If a raptor is caught it can be killed, if no one is watching, and burned. If there happens to be a witness then it can be released. Much less risk to the persecutor.
It seems to me and many of my colleagues that finding a Raptor killed by persecution was something you only came across very occasionally while out in the field and I have been out in the field a very long time, it seems to us now that it becomming so regular that it is almost to be expected. This is a very sad state of affairs to think that the very people who are put forward as to be the stalwart guardians and upholders of our countryside and it’s wildlife can stoop so low as to persecute to decimation our rarest birds just for their own selfish ends. Our police and our judicial system are so inextricably entwined with the perpetrators of this sad state of affairs that they are virtually incapable of executing any real justice to these criminal landowners and their gamekeepers. I’m afraid that unless we all stand together and shout out loud enough about what’s happening to our wildlife and countryside, so that everyone whether they are members of parliament or Joe Blogs having a pint the local pub can hear the truth, then these throwbacks from a byegone era will continue to do what they want and the law won’t do a damn thing about it.
So what is going on? In recent months I know of three buzzards, found in suspicious circumstances in Scotland, two of which were discovered on the same shooting estate and that SASA have concluded were victims of “starvation”. One of these birds I found myself, tucked in under a tree by a river with no signs of disturbance on the ground directly around the buzzard (How did it get there?). The condition of the bird suggested that it had died within hours of me finding it. The bird did not look underweight and in fact looked in perfect health, if of course it were not for the fact that it was dead. The feathers were in perfect condition, the body was bulky and its eyes were open and considering it was dead, they were reasonably bright and still moist. However, I did notice that the head area was wet, when the rest of the bird was dry and that there was a slight chemical/chlorine smell coming from the bird. There were several set snares approximately fifteen meters from the dead raptor which indicated keeper activity and knowledge by the keeper of this location, which was in some woodland, about fifty meters away from a road. Are we beginning to see the victims of a new poison, difficult to detect and which may present starvation as a cause of death in these birds? Note to Ed: Please let me know how to send you photos and I would be happy to pass a pic of the dead buzzard to you.
[Ed: Hi Steve. Thanks for this. Yes, we too have suspicions about at least one dead buzzard whose apparent cause of death was ‘probably starvation’. If you come across any more, which you surely will, it might be useful to measure the bird’s weight at the time of discovery. If you want to send a photo we’d be happy to receive it via our email address: raptor.persecution.scotland@hotmail.co.uk
Cheers]
And the Hen Harrier ‘Blae’. If you remember, the report mentioned “suggesting that the bird died from starvation” and “the toxicology results were negative for the commonly-abused pesticides”. At the time, I did make the suggestion that other poisons could have been used, and if SASA are not testing for other poisons, then how many others have slipped through as non-persecution cases. Regarding Blae, I also had some concerns on the proposed cause of death, as it would be immediately noticable if a bird was suffering from starvation.
On the subject of the SASA report, I have other concerns on the reporting of deaths. 12033, a Red Kite, was found dead on a railway line and trauma has been the given cause of death, despite “The
bromadiolone residue was at a level that would normally be considered to be within the lethal range.” 12038, a fox, tested positive for three poisons with “All three residues were at a level that would normally be considered to be within the anticipated lethal range”, yet this also went down as trauma. 12057, another Red Kite, with the comment “The bromadiolone residue was within the anticipated lethal range and given the post mortem findings is likely to have contributed to the death of this bird”, yet this went down as unspecified. 12076, a Buzzard, also went down as unspecified despite the comment “The difenacoum residue was at a level normally considered to be within the anticipated lethal range.” 12086, another Buzzard, went down as unspecified with the comment “However, a routine screen for evidence of exposure to anticoagulant rodenticides revealed a residue of difenacoum at a level normally considered to be within the anticipated lethal range.” Another unspecified death was another Red Kite (12115) with the comment “The analytical investigation confirmed the presence of a residue of difenacoum at a level normally considered to be within the anticipated lethal range.” Two of these (12086 and 12115), despite giving the chemical in the column, it mentions in the comments “The source of the chemical has not
been established.” Now when you consider that the ‘approved’ poisoning of the dog at Ref. 12128 had the comment “The circumstances suggest that bromadiolone poisoning may have contributed to the death of this dog”, you begin to wonder if they are trying to play down the role of poisoning. Surely if the dog died as a result of poisning, then all the birds above were also poisoned? Is SASA another SNH?
Furthermore, is lower-level poisoning also having a detrimental impact on the faculties of birds?. I’m quite happy to accept that starvation and various collisions will account for the deaths of some birds, but there seem to be too many cases where lower levels of poison have been found in birds that have died prematurely by collision or starvation.
Very good points Marco..and very important when both government spokespersons and game shooting representatives attempt to mask the scale of killing by pointing to drops in reported poisoning, using the understandably small numbers of baits and victims recovered.Every analysis is important…I think it would be a bit harsh to compare SASA to SNH though they’ve stayed out of the political game with the rather sad exception of bowing to pressure by dropping actual locations [estate, village etc.] of incidents in their annual reports…that’s one of the biggest issues here if we want to involve the public – this is a human health and safety issue in addition to being a serious environmental problem. Of course the public should know if a poisoner is operating in their area.
Yes, perhaps a direct comparison between SASA and SNH was a tad unfair, but are they heading that way? In recent years, some cases where abuse would previously have been given as the cause of death, there now appears to be a switch to unspecified or unknown. This is a government agency after all and there is the chance that they could be under pressure from elsewhere to produce ‘preferred’ results.
However, there is something strange about these reports. When reading through the reports it is surprising to read of the many cases of Buzzard and Red Kite starvation in recent years, considering we have been led to believe that these two species are running amok in our countryside, killing everything in their paths. Or is that another shooting lobby lie?