Earlier this week North Yorkshire Police put out a public appeal for information regarding satellite-tagged hen harrier ‘John’, missing in suspicious circumstances and whose last known location was Threshfield Moor, a grouse moor in the Yorkshire Dales National Park.
We also saw a public appeal for information from Northumbria Police and the RSPB regarding satellite-tagged hen harrier ‘Manu’, also missing in suspicious circumstances and whose last known location was Blenkinsopp Common in the North Pennines.
We’ve just looked at the News sections of several organisations websites, all of whom are partners in the Raptor Persecution Priority Delivery Group (RPPDG: whose remit includes ‘providing publicity about raptor persecution to build trust and transparency’). Here’s what we found:
Moorland Association – NOTHING
National Gamekeepers Organisation – NOTHING
Countryside Alliance – NOTHING
British Association for Shooting & Conservation – NOTHING
No statements, no urging their members to come forward with any information they might have, no appeals to the public, not even a cut & paste job of the police appeals for information. Absolutely nothing.
It’s the same deafening silence we heard in August when North Yorkshire Police appealed for information about the attempted shooting of nesting marsh harriers and the theft of their eggs on a grouse moor in the Nidderdale AONB, and the same deafening silence that followed the news of a poisons cache buried on another North Yorkshire grouse moor (see here).
Their silence tells us all we need to know.
Raptor Persecution UK 
As always, their silence speaks volumes ! They must have a rug so lumpy that Sherpa Tensing would struggle to cross it safely !! Ostrich Syndrome, it must be caused by over exposure to loud bangs and lead shot !!
Would be interesting to know what exactly is happening with the marsh harrier case
i`m sick of it. Our rare and local goshawk, splendid adult female, vanished from it`s woodland where it fed predominantly on woodpidgeon but there were splashes of pheasant feathers here and there, which sealed it`s fate. Now that forest has lost it`s spirit and I am tripping over pheasants as I walk through it. Not enough general public are aware of the carnage going on behind the scenes. Phil from Privett, Hampshire
What would be lost if they were simply asked to leave the Raptor Persecution Priority Delivery Group? Their inaction suggests that they are merely using their membership as convenient PR. Their continuing membership seems akin to having Fagin, Bill Sykes, Charley Bates and the Artful Dodger serve on to the Rapacious Pickpockets Prevention Delivery Group. I wonder which of these Dickensian characters would best fit each organisation? (I think it obvious who’d be Bill Sykes). Raptor Persecution UK is clearly Oliver Twist as you keep asking for more (information), won’t be fobbed off and will ultimately come out on top. Not sure who to cast as Nancy though ….
They should not be asked to leave – they should be thrown out!
I’d be quite happy with that option too.
If this is to be highly publicised their silence indeed would indeed speaks volumes to the public at large. Their lack of support, in effect, shows where their true support lies. Their presence on the RPPDG has to be called into question. Even if crimes are being carried out without their knowledge they have to be seen to be critical. If the police were ever to make a case stick they know that it would be wholly damaging. We need policy statements from each of these organisations to clearly let us know where they stand and what action will be taken against any member charged and convicted of criminal activity.
Waste of time asking. Anything they say will be tosh.
That is the point – that is why they don’t or can’t afford to make a statement – they’re reluctant to have anything backfire on them. The public have to recognise that when they say nothing and appear to show no enthusiasm for finding the culprits, they are, in effect, condoning the actions of the law-breakers.
Indeed silence says it all NERf included the following in their one year assessment of the DEFRA Hen Harrier plan
“In relation to Hen Harrier persecution it is clear that the greatest potential source of information
is to be found from within the shooting industry. NERF expects the representatives of the
industry to work tirelessly with their members to assist both local Police Forces and the NWCU
to build the intelligence picture and assist with prosecuting offenders when they are put before
the courts.
NERF proposes that members of the RPPDG who cannot demonstrate compliance with this
action should forfeit their position on the Group.”
It is time that this was heeded and either the 2 grouse lobby” starts to provide information or gets booted out of the RPPDG of paw because these organisations are certainly not delivering.
Don’t see anything on Hawk and Owl Trust website either.
Obviously HOT isn’t quite in same category as the organizations mentioned by RPUK but still it is highly relevant to the HH Disastrous Plan.
In this case they haven’t had the temerity to spout their usual ‘not us Guv’ rubbish whenever another harrier disappears on, and only on, a grouse moor. Perhaps the message is getting through that no-one outside of their own limited circle of apologists believes them and their half hearted condemnation of illegal acts. If they took positive action against moorland owners, and/or their staff, where crimes occur they might, just, be half believed.
……… or the Bowland Peregrine case at: https://raptorpersecutionscotland.wordpress.com/2017/09/28/bleasdale-estate-gamekeeper-denies-killing-two-peregrines-in-bowland/
It’s an insincere political silence from the lobbying groups (they are all members of the same groups anyway), they are all laughing as individuals.
We should cut and paste their “glee” to the politicians.