A man has been charged with attempting to kill a sparrowhawk after he was allegedly seen throwing stones at the bird in Ravenscraig Park, Kirkaldy.
Full story in Fife Today here
Great to see a swift response from Police Scotland and also good to see media coverage. Excellent.
Now, how about some press coverage from Police Scotland regarding the two ‘live, on-going’ poisoning cases that took place at least seven months ago? So far, the police have refused to release details on (a) the crime locations; (b) the victims of the poisonings; (c) the poisons used; and (d) whether they’ve carried out a search (we’re told by a local that at least one of these crimes has not, so far, resulted in a search, seven months on). These two ‘live, on-going’ cases were listed in the Government’s recent raptor crime map data but specific details were not provided.
It’s all well and good to release information about ‘random’ individual persecution incidents, such as the alleged attempt to kill a sparrowhawk in a local park, but what about reporting on the wildlife crimes that regularly take place on some game-shooting estates and arguably are the biggest threat to local populations of some raptor species? Why is information about these crimes still being deliberately withheld, seven months after the offences were committed?
Sparrowhawk photo: photographer unknown.
Raptor Persecution UK 
I believe that police Scotland is either afraid or reluctant to go after the big estates and their gamekeepers. Much easier to throw the book at some [Ed: alleged] yob in a park. Good for them though for doing so.
Yes, it’s unlikely the [Ed: alleged] yob will have sufficient clout to come back and bite them on the arse, whereas the powerful shooting estate owners could make life very difficult for chief constables and their like if the police upset them too much !!!
I concur.
I strongly agree with both Chris and nirofo. One only has to contrast the efforts put in to prosecute those who hare course, a pastime of the landless and the poor, and those who commit crimes against raptors to understand the fallacy inherent in the cliché that “the ladder of the law has no top and no bottom.” Who knew … or rather, who will speak out against that curtain of silence?
While a (n alleged – or so this bloke called Ed keeps saying) yob howfing stones at something is deplorable and ought to be stopped, somehow it seems like the low hanging fruit compared to the big boys in their castles and lodges. It seems like his aim would have to be affy guid to do any damage, that’ll be one for the (alleged) prosecutor to explain though. It would be nice if the (alleged) cops actually tried being a little more ambitious, but I suppose we have to take what we can get. Police Scotland: Lowering Your Expectations Since April 2013. {sidenote: was it meant to be so darkly appropriate that it’s official date of formation was April first, or was that just a free gift to gag writers?}