Year: 2020

Last month the Mail Online published a nasty, vindictive article, believed to have been sourced from the loathsome Countryside Alliance.

Written by ‘journalist’ Vivek Chaudhary, it was claimed that Police Detective Superintendent Lou Hubble, Head of the National Wildlife Crime Unit (NWCU) had featured in a video with me and I was described as an “anti-hunt extremist“, as well as an “animal rights extremist“, five times throughout the article.

Here was the original headline:

It’s quite clear that the use of the term “anti-hunt extremist” was used in this context to create a [wholly false] impression of someone who advocates violent and/or illegal action. Add in the words ‘Police chief’ and ‘House of Commons’ and you’ve got a heady cocktail for hysteria.

I complained about the description and asked to see the evidence that’d been used to justify the use of this ‘extremist’ label but I didn’t get anywhere with either the journalist or his editor. After ten days I threatened to escalate my complaint to legal action for alleged defamation – and yes, I had every intention of taking this forward. This resulted in an almost immediate response from the editor, who didn’t apologise but did remove every description of me being an ‘extremist’ and instead referred to me as a wildlife campaigner and a conservation campaigner in a revised version of the article. Here was the new headline:

That was good but it still wasn’t an apology. The editor tried to dissuade me from seeking one because it would mean he would have to refer my complaint to his senior editorial team. I told him I didn’t think it was unreasonable to seek a written apology given the libellous commentary that had been published.

He did pass on my complaint and, presumably having realised they were in an indefensible position, the very next day I received a full written apology from a senior managing editor and the following footnote was added to the (revised) online article:

This is a good result and hopefully those who are routinely the subject of defamatory online commentary will be encouraged to take similar action in future.

However, although the article had included defamatory slurs against me, I was not the direct target of attack. Lou Hubble was the intended victim, presumably because she’s been working to make life difficult for the raptor-killing criminals within the game shooting industry. As a result of this spiteful article in the Mail Online, and the Countryside Alliance making a formal complaint to the Police about Lou’s ‘behaviour’, Det Sup Hubble has found herself at the centre of an investigation by the Police’s professional standards unit.

This is absolutely outrageous, especially as it was based on inaccurate and defamatory accusations. So a hard-working, dedicated and career-focused wildlife cop, whose job it is to develop partnership working relationships with everybody (including the Countryside Alliance!) decided to participate, in her own time, in a video with over 30 other wildlife campaigners and supporters, including BASC(!!), now faces the threat of disciplinary action, and all because the Daily Mail chose to publish some nasty and inaccurate accusations believed to originate from the Countryside Alliance.

The Mail’s subsequent retractions, amendments and apology will be forwarded to the Police’s professional standards unit and hopefully this will draw their investigation in to Lou Hubble to an immediate halt as they’ll see the complaint for the malicious, squalid witch-hunt it so obviously is.

Sixty six years after it became illegal to kill birds of prey in the UK, five pro-shooting organisations yesterday issued a statement professing ‘zero tolerance’ for raptor persecution.

For those new to the subject of illegal raptor persecution in the UK this statement might look credible. For those of us who can spot sophistry at 200 yards it’s anything but credible.

You only need read as far as the second sentence of this joint statement to see straight through the greenwash:

“…….and while many reports of such persecution have proven to be false and confirmed cases are decreasing year on year……..” Really?

Actually, here’s an interesting graphic showing confirmed raptor persecution incidents in England & Wales over the five years 2014-2018 (2019 data not yet analysed), from the RSPB’s data hub and accepted by the National Wildlife Crime Unit:

In 2014 there were 58 confirmed incidents

In 2015 there were 58 confirmed incidents

In 2016 there were 69 confirmed incidents

In 2017 there were 62 confirmed incidents

In 2018 there were 72 confirmed incidents

And of course in Scotland we know from the Government’s most recent annual report (2018) that raptor persecution crimes more than doubled on the previous year.

The shooting organisations’ joint statement isn’t fooling anyone. And it’s not like the industry hasn’t claimed ‘zero tolerance’ before, e.g. see here, and yet what we see repeatedly are shooting organisation representatives sneering and ridiculing the RSPB when covert video evidence has been ruled inadmissible in prosecutions for alleged raptor crime (e.g. here), we see high-end barristers (often of QC status) brought in to defend the accused (who pays the legal fees, because they’ll be beyond the gamekeeper’s pocket?) (e.g. here), we get walls of silence from the shooting organisations when clear evidence of raptor crime has been uncovered (e.g. here) and instead of expulsions from shooting organisations following a successful conviction we see statements of support (e.g. here).

What’s probably the most amusing about this joint ploy is reading the ‘further information’ bit where we learn what measures the industry has planned to tackle illegal persecution:

‘Providing training opportunities for shoots to understand laws that protect raptors‘ – er, it’s pretty straight forward isn’t it? All raptors are protected, don’t kill them. How much more training is required?

‘Shoot owners, or their representatives, tenants and employees should attend a training course to familiarise themselves with laws that protect raptors‘ – you mean they’re not already familiar with the law that’s been enacted for 66 years?

‘Delivering a shooting sector awareness campaign on laws that protect raptors‘ – Yes, 66 years is nowhere near long enough for everyone to have got the message.

And perhaps best of all, this:

‘Continuing to support the collaborative efforts to resolve raptor persecution including as members of the Partnership for Action Against Wildlife Crime and the Raptor Persecution Priority Delivery Group‘

Would that be the same Raptor Persecution Priority Delivery Group (RPPDG) that these five organisations boycotted last year because they questioned Police Supt Nick Lyall’s integrity as RPPDG Chair and didn’t like the idea of conservation-oriented organisations being invited to join? Is that what they mean by ‘collaborative efforts’.

If you really want to understand just how ‘collaborative’ these organisations have been on the RPPDG then have a read of this damning letter written by Steve Downing, Chair of the Northern England Raptor Forum, written to Det Superintendent Lou Hubble of the National Wildlife Crime Unit who is facing investigation after the Countryside Alliance’s nasty, vindictive complaint about her integrity earlier this month (gosh, anyone seeing a pattern here?). Steve’s letter makes it quite clear why no progress has been made on tackling raptor persecution via the RPPDG.

And hang on a minute – the National Gamekeepers Organisation is a signatory to this joint letter claiming to support the RPPDG but didn’t they actually resign from the RPPDG after the ‘collaborative’ boycott? Ah yes, so they did.

Sorry, BASC, Countryside Alliance, Moorland Association, National Gamekeepers Organisation and Country Land & Business Association – but you’re going to have to do better than this to convince anyone that you’re serious about eradicating illegal raptor persecution. It all just smacks of desperation to avoid incoming regulation – a bit like we saw in Scotland in 2010 when over 200 estate owners wrote to the then Environment Minister Roseanna Cunningham claiming to condemn raptor poisoning at a time when estate licensing was being discussed. Ten years on and Scotland is on the verge of enforced regulation because persecution has continued relentlessly….

UPDATE 12th March 2021: ‘Zero tolerance’ for raptor persecution? They’re fooling no-one (here)

A rare opportunity to join the dynamic RSPB’s Investigations team on the front line, tackling illegal raptor persecution and other crimes against birds in Wales.

[Photo: an illegally killed sparrowhawk being retrieved by an RSPB Investigations Officer. Image by Guy Shorrock]

Here’s the job spec from the RSPB:

Assistant Investigations Officer

Location: Bangor, Wales

The illegal killing of the birds of prey is a stain on the UK’s reputation. It affects almost all of our raptor species, and particularly impacts those of high conservation concern such as the hen harrier and peregrine.

This role is working within a dedicated and unique team combating this issue alongside partners including the Police and statutory agencies.

You will be on the front line, following up reports of dead birds, monitoring the nests of some of our rarest breeding species or carrying out targeted fieldwork in areas with a history of criminal activity.

You will develop relationships with volunteer raptor fieldworkers to monitor the nests and roosts of priority raptors in target areas of known persecution (including poisoning of other species). You will also organise monitoring of hen harrier nests to identify suitable candidate broods for satellite-tagging, which will be undertaken under licence by a qualified ringer.

You will liaise with Natural Resources Wales area teams to ensure that measures are taken to protect rare breeding raptors, particularly on designated sites

You will raise the profile of priority raptors in Wales, through local community talks and media, so being able to communicate in Welsh will be an advantage.

You need to be robust, persistent, focussed, able to work in pressured situations and have excellent bird identification skills.

You will frequently be required to work unsociable hours, in remote upland environments where excellent navigation skills, an awareness of lone working procedures and health & safety are essential.

Experience of upland conservation issues, raptor monitoring projects, including using satellite transmitters, and intelligence handling would be beneficial.

This is a rewarding job, in a small team that makes a big difference.

The successful applicant will need to be based in Wales and prepared to travel throughout the country and occasionally farther afield.

Salary starting at £19,602 to £21,236 per annum

Hours: Full time
Contract: 12 months

Application closing date: 14 February 2020
Interview date: 27 February 2020

For further details and the application forms please click here

Quelle surprise! It’s another year and another opportunity for a load of dead pheasants to be dumped.

Here are two more cases reported on social media in recent days, one load dumped in North Yorkshire and another in West Yorkshire, to add to previous reports of shot dumped birds in Cheshire, Scottish borders (here), Norfolk (here), Perthshire (here), Berkshire (here), North York Moors National Park (here) and some more in North Yorkshire (here), Co. Derry (here), West Yorkshire (here), N Wales (here), mid-Wales (here), Leicestershire (here) and Lincolnshire (here).

The latest gruesome discovery in North Yorkshire included a potato sack full of dead pheasants dumped by the side of the road in York:

The pheasant dumping incident in West Yorkshire was reported on twitter by West Yorkshire Police but no photos available:

Gamebird dumping continues to be a widespread problem. That’s hardly a surprise when the game shooting industry is permitted to release as many non-native pheasants and red-legged partidge as it likes (conservatively estimated to be almost 60 million EVERY YEAR), with minimal regulation, and no requirement to report on what happens to those birds once they’ve been shot for a bit of a laugh.

And let’s not forget this is the same game shooting industry that is responsible for the vast majority of illegal raptor persecution, done, it says, to protect gamebirds. That’ll be the gamebirds that are shot and then dumped, with no respect for the quarry and no respect for the local residents who’ll have to foot the bill to have the carcasses removed.

In a letter to the Daily Telegraph in November 2005 headed ‘Game birds for eating not dumping’, Tim Bonner of the Countryside Alliance said this:

“Every bird shot in Britain goes into the food chain, whether into participants’ freezers, or through game dealers into an increasing number of supermarkets, butchers, pubs and restaurants“.

That statement wasn’t true in 2005 and nor is it true 15 years later in 2020, despite the game shooting industry’s extensive (but flawed, e.g. see here) PR efforts to persuade the public that everything that’s killed is done ethically and sustainably.

Last year DEFRA admitted, after a legal challenge by Wild Justice, that gamebird releases need to be assessed properly for their potential ecological damage to protected nature conservation sites. As the clock counts down to more gamebird releases this year and with no indication that DEFRA will sort itself out in time, Wild Justice is preparing to re-visit the legal challenge.