Following on from Saturday’s blog post about the poisoned peregrine that was found in the Leadhills area and the appalling response from the police (see here), we expected to read some official statements today from the likes of Environment Minister Paul Wheelhouse, PAW Scotland, Police Scotland, National Wildlife Crime Unit, Scottish Land & Estates, the Scottish Gamekeepers’ Association etc etc.
Here’s what we found:
NOTHING.
Why did we expect a response? Well, partly because of all the rhetoric we’ve been fed over the past few years about how stamping out wildlife crime is a priority for Police Scotland, for the Government, for SLE, for the SGA etc etc, and partly because this particular incident is number 45 on a long list of other raptor persecution incidents reported from the Leadhills area since 2003 (and we know there are many more incidents that went unrecorded because we’ve reported some of them ourselves!).
We know that over 50 of you have emailed the Minister (thank you) to demand some specific action, including an inquiry into PC Everitt’s alleged refusal to accept this incident was probably a wildlife crime, and to insist that SNH now use their new powers to restrict the use of General Licences in the Leadhills area.
The Minister has 20 working days in which to respond. For those of us who wrote to him over the weekend, that means he has to respond by 2nd May 2014. However, we know from previous incidents that the Minister usually waits until the very last day of that 20-working day period before he actually does respond. If we were cynics we would think that these delayed responses were designed to ‘wait out’ the public’s anger which will probably have subsided by the time the 20 working day deadline has expired.
We also know from past experience that the Minister will likely tell us that he can’t comment about Police Scotland procedures (e.g. “it’s a police matter and it would be inappropriate for me to comment”) and that he can’t comment about the potential withdrawal of General Licences (e.g. “it’s an SNH matter and it would be inappropriate for me to respond”).
He might surprise us but none of us are expecting him to. So, in anticipation of a feeble, question-dodging response, we thought we’d bypass him and go directly to those agencies ourselves.
If any of you are also interested in doing this, here are some useful contact details:
To find out why Police Scotland and the NWCU failed to act when this crime was reported to them, there are three key players to contact –
The Police Scotland Wildlife Crime Portfolio is led strategically by Assistant Chief Constable Malcolm Graham. Email: Acc.CrimeMCPP@scotland.pnn.police.uk
Police Scotland Wildlife Crime Portfolio Lead Officer is Det. Sup. Cameron Cavin. Email: Cameron.Cavin@scotland.pnn.police.uk
Police Scotland Wildlife Crime Coordinator is Sgt. Andrew Mavin. Email: Andrew.Mavin@scotland.pnn.police.uk
We’re sure all three gentlemen would love to have the opportunity to explain what happened (or more to the point, why nothing happened) and how their failure to respond fits in with their much-publicised approach to tackling wildlife crime (see here for details).
To ask SNH whether they will be enacting the new enabling clause in the 2014 General Licences and thus restricting their use in the Leadhills area, contact the Chief Executive of SNH, Ian Jardine. Email: ian.jardine@snh.gov.uk
We’re still interested in what the Environment Minister has to say about it all, of course. For those of you who haven’t yet emailed him to demand robust action, here’s his email address: Ministerforenvironment@scotland.gsi.gov.uk
They might all think that by keeping quiet for a few days we’ll all forget about it and move on to something else. They’d be pretty stupid to think so.
Raptor Persecution UK 
Ok. yet another blunder has been made by police and NWCU. But given that a poisoning has been confirmed, where’s the investigation, follow up searches , attempts to trace witnesses etc etc.
This bird has been confirmed poisoned, where are the poison baits……still out there poisoning more birds and wildlife!
This whole thing highlights the farce that is NWCU and police response to wildlife crime. Is it any wonder SGA want only the police to investigate these matters.
Anyone else had a similar experience? If so why not share them here.
What I want to know is – why has the John Muir Trust, the Scottish Wildlife Trust, the World Wildlife Fund Scotland and various animal rights groups, not unite with the RSPB and the SSPCA , to set up a new body, to challenge and concentrate the minds of those in our Police system, supposedly concerned about wildlife crime, to deal with this ongoing and increasing killing of our protected birds of prey?
The impression of my country, is that it is governed by people who want to create a happy clappy population that will not ask too many questions about how effective its laws and policies are followed through. I am not happy with the law enforcement and judicial systems with regard to this topic. They strike me as if there is some force towering over them to let wildlife crime to just go away, and not be investigated and unpunished. It also grates on me, that so much of Scotland is in the hands of so few people, some of whom think that they can do as they please, by ignoring the law of the land.
The general public has now been alerted, thanks to a lot of exposure of these crimes, due to television and press publicity, and the consensus is that it has become another offensive activity that those in law enforcement and prosecution are not dealing with effectively. It appears that we have two countries in Scotland; one in the modern era concerned about ethical issues and in producing a more compassionate way of doing things, and the other, wanting to behave in a medieval fashion with regard to land ownership and use. What has been stated here, is only part of a general concern about the ability of politicians to really produce the results needed to bring Scotland up to a modern way of living, and having a society where there is more law and order.
The trouble with many of the people in the organisations mentioned at the start of this thread is that they appear to set low standards then fail to achieve them. What they actually achieve in relation to wildlife crime does not seem to amount to much.
They’d be pretty stupid to think that by keeping quiet for a few days we’ll all forget about it and move on to something else, so therefore they probably do think that!
What are the RSPB doing about pushing this forward , they surely have the muscle and the money to pursue the incompetence via the courts if necessary , I though Public officials were still accountable for incompetence , or is it a case of ‘don’t rock the boat before independence voting?