Last week we blogged about North Yorks gamekeeper Shaun Leslie Allanson, who was convicted of committing wildlife crimes on the Blansby Park Estate (see here). We wondered at the time whether Allanson was a member of the National Gamekeepers’ Organisation (NGO), the English/Welsh equivalent of the Scottish Gamekeepers’ Association.
Well, it turns out that he was indeed a member at the time he commited those offences.
In a very welcome turn of events, the NGO have issued a public statement about Allanson (see here). Following his conviction, they immediately ‘suspended’ his NGO membership. Now, this isn’t as good as immediately booting him out and banning him from ever re-joining the organisation, but it is a good start.
According to the NGO’s disciplinary procedure (see here), Allanson will remain suspended until the NGO’s National Committee have a chance to meet and discuss the details of his case, and based on that meeting he will either be expelled or re-admitted. We will watch with interest to see what decision they make.
The NGO deserve some credit here. Regular blog followers will know that after previous cases of convicted gamekeepers we have struggled to get the relevant ‘professional body’ (i.e. the NGO or the SGA) to make any public comment at all. On this occasion though, the NGO took very swift public action without us having to spend weeks badgering them to do so. We blogged quite recently about the need for greater leadership amongst the game-shooting bodies and it looks as though the message has finally got through, to the NGO at least. They don’t often give us cause to congratulate them but this time they have. Well done to them.
Raptor Persecution UK 
I asked the NGO PR man Charles Nodder if Allanson was a member of the NGO and if it was to make a statement. Charles Nodder told me to stand by for a statement to be made late last Friday. The statement came well after the close of play for the working week and was probably timed for when journalists had already made their way home for the weekend.
Tall oaks from little acorns grow!
Well done NGO, I have read their public statement and if, as appears the case in this instance, thay always stand by it, the reputation of game keeping can only benefit.
If only the SGA would follow their lead…
I may have missed this first time round but in some of the reporting Allanson is said to have supplemented his low income (that’s how much the employers value their staff) by rearing birds to sell to shooting parties for £20-30 a time. This bit I don’t understand – is he adding birds to the ‘bag’ to bolster egos? Are they throwing them up in the air to take pot shots? Or is it just the press misunderstanding the difference between hunting and the British version of pheasant shooting which relies on millions of hand reared birds pushed in front of the guns?