Thanks to Mr Carbo for submitting this cartoon in response to King of Bollocks Ian Botham’s idiotic suggestion that gamekeepers should be put in charge of RSPB reserves.
You might also want to check out these two letters published today in The Herald.
Raptor Persecution UK 
Fox/ Henhouse
Lunatics/ Asylum.
Just saying…
I know a few gamekeepers turned poacher…
Some of them would make excellent rangers….
Their understanding of ecology starts and finishes with – kill things to get more things , their communication skills are non existent, they think anyone who lives in a conurbation of more than three houses as a townie and “the scum of the earth”, they never move their fat arses out of a land rover from one month to the next ,they are usually too pissed to think straight, they wouldn’t do the ranger thing because they would not be able to swan about with guns (presumably) ,they think a mono culture is a natural habitat, and most of the ones I know are a bit whiffy.
Rangers my arse
Just saying.
They call themselves ‘naturalists’ and consider themselves ‘custodians of the countryside’ when their knowledge of ecology extends knowing a little bit about the food chain and that if you kill one species, another species survives – they can’t see beyond that or see the bigger picture. They tell lies, half truths, deny everything, continually produce misinformation and set smokescreens if anyone asks questions, no, they would make useless Rangers. They’re arrogant knuckledraggers in my experience.
Just saying,
Too many gamekeepers turn criminal… seems to go with the job!!!!!
Doug
Ha Ha, nice one. I’m liking the Cricket Bat.
Excellent. Not sure where the ‘more than 20’ species covered by the General Licence comes from – see first letter.
Incidentally, reference to the General Licence reminds me that whereas Jays are included as a so-called pest species which may be killed etc., they do not appear in the list of birds which are permitted to be used as a decoy in a cage-trap. See here:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/wild-birds-licence-to-take-or-kill-for-conservation-purposes
To have that lot working for you rather than the other side is preferable…look after your employees and they will usually look after you…give the keepers training that gives them status rather than just able to doff the cap…might help..
The keepers here like their outdoor work but the manager of the shoot and the estate owners are generally seen to be seen for the people they are…exploiting even their own…the chaps round here are underpaid and often have to wait for their wages… some would love to escape that feudal dependency!
Licensed to kill.
Extract from Wild birds: licence to take or kill for conservation purposes
With this licence you can catch alive or kill:
crows
jackdaws
feral pigeons
jays
lesser black-backed gulls
magpies
rooks
You can catch alive or kill, as well as take, damage or destroy the nests, or take or destroy the eggs of:
Canada geese
Egyptian geese
monk parakeets
ring-necked parakeets
sacred ibises
Indian house crows
You must still follow animal welfare laws and kill birds in a quick and humane manner.
How can this license be related to conservation when the gamekeepers are dealing with the protection of non-native pheasants, partridges and over populated red grouse?
Ranger gamekeepers would decimate wildlife.
It’s a totally unregulated farce! You are supposed to follow animal welfare rules but are allowed to use a cage trap which is smaller than welfare rules require! Sort that one out.
Macgee, that’s the best ‘one-liner’ I’ve seen for a quite a while!
99% of gamekepeers give the rest a bad name.
Botham is a prat.
#theykilledalltheraptors
Nothings botham says surprises me, he’s a big mouth and he kills birds for pleasure, tells you what sort of bloke he is.
What a complete idiot Botham is showing his true colours for the so called hierarchy the mans gone way down in my reckoning I wonder what his grandchildren will feel when theirs nowt out there in our beautiful countryside 1 absolute dipstick