For a second consecutive issue, Private Eye has featured a piece on the illegal persecution of raptors on grouse moors.
Here’s what appeared in yesterday’s edition:
And here’s what appeared in the previous edition two weeks ago:
Well done that journalist, more of this please!
Raptor Persecution UK 
It keeps up the pressure.
More pressure on the organised criminals and their supporters can be made if we can increase the penalties to make it a serious crime, and stop video evidence failing to reach court. People everywhere can sign this Scottish petition to the parliament.
http://www.parliament.scot/GettingInvolved/Petitions/PE01705
More information at
https://amilne.co.uk/Wildlifecrime/
Well done to Private Eye
Richard Ingrams will be doing a trump.
Oh god yeah, what is it again..he thinks that lots of red kites can be ‘oppressive’ apparently, glad he’s well out of Private Eye he became a bit of a strange fish.
Excellent initiative on the part of Private Eye. In particular, this potentially gets the message out to a wider audience than hitherto. Much more of the same is essential if we are to be successful in consigning these barbaric pastimes and practices to history.
Keep up the pressure, Private Eye!
Well done indeed Private Eye. The crocodile tears condemnation of the report by the Yorkshire Dales Moorland Group would be hilarious if it wasn’t so sickening and two-faced, and as the Hon. President of the World Owl Trust working in Bowland I am still reeling and furious at the pathetic ‘slapped wrist’ given to the evil Cowin by the CPS. No wonder the killers have no fear of the so-called ‘Law’! However, until the Courts start taking this on-going problem seriously and start giving the MAXIMUM penalties – especially jailing – we must continue trying to get the great British ‘man and woman in the street’ to take in what is happening. Possibly if we were to publicize the Mountain Hare (fluffy bunny syndrome) massacres and ‘dumping’ we might get more interest. Until we do, we will just have to carry on our battle until we win. Thank God we have RPUK to lead our charge. My thanks to you as always – you are brilliant, and inspiring too.
I see the line about data not released ‘to avoid revealing…’. But if the birds are dying there, then the shooters already know the locations. One hope for the future might be innocent walkers and birders wandering by. Though I guess that bad things happen in the early hours.
Could the data indicate times as well as locations?
Excellent point regarding times of the fixes. One of the GRs is in the middle of one of our roost sites. However, without a timing of the record, we have no way of knowing whether this was likely to have been a daytime fly-over or possibly an indication of the bird’s final resting place.
Fully agree Tony’s comments regarding RPUK. Where would we be without you?
This seems a little odd since SatNav data is intrinsically time-based.
This was radio-tracking, where the only timing link would have been the associated entry in the operator’s note book.
Thank you.
My email to Private Eye,
Thank you “Private Eye” for increasing awareness of the hideous crimes undertaken on the grouse moors of this little island.
The moorland owners live in the Victorian era with their hatred of birds of prey, and other predatory animals.
On the rare occasion that a gamekeeper is charged it rarely goes any further than the defendant’s barrister managing to talk CPS down and the evidence made inadmissible.
The illegal acts also include pole traps, the use of banned poisons (illegal in Scotland), bird scarers and anything else they can devise to do their evil work.
But let us not forget the pheasant and partridge shooters. Over 40 million birds bred to be shot and mostly wasted. The raising of this gun fodder is cloaked in criminal activity and raptor persecution.
Add to this the reluctance of the shooters to use lead free shot and we have a scattering of many tonnes of toxic lead over our countryside. The meat contaminated by lead may account for the backward thinking of the estates and shooters. Much of the bird corpses are dumped, some illegally.
Please continue with your efforts to highlight the primitive and illegal activities of the rich and careless folk. Their end must come, the sooner the better.
Doug
Phew! Perhaps we’ll see some response to these articles in the letters page or further investigation into the strange cases of “inadmissible evidence” – Plenty of scope there for Mr Justice Cockelcarrot as was. Pip
Good points Doug.