Police Scotland issued the following statement yesterday:
Four men charged with wildlife crime offences in Stewartry
Police Scotland can confirm that four men have been charged in connection with a number of wildlife crime offences in the Stewartry area of Dumfries & Galloway.
Extensive investigations have been ongoing throughout 2021 following reports of ongoing persecution against protected birds of prey and wildlife in the area of Parton near Castle Douglas which culminated with the arrest of the men, aged 59, 52, 46 and 31.
A report has been submitted to the Procurator Fiscal.
Wildlife Crime Officer Constable John Cowan said: “All allegations of wildlife crime are taken very seriously and matters such as this will be investigated vigorously in Dumfries & Galloway.
“We have excellent relationships with members of the public in our rural communities and they are only too keen to let us know when the magnificent wildlife in the area is coming to harm.
“We will continue to robustly investigate wildlife crime alongside our many partners in the hope that we can completely eradicate such practices.”
ENDS
Raptor Persecution UK 
Now this is epic news to digest alongside your coco pops.
The chief Constable’s message was very en pointe. Nice, nice, nice.
When I say chief Constable, I mean wildlife officer…..the cocopops haven’t hit my bloodstream yet.
I think the penultimate paragraph is a hugely important one. As understanding of what goes on increases and the tolerance of wildlife crime decreases amongst both rural communities and other countryside users, we have to hope that more wildlife crimes will be brought to the attention of the police. Mind you we still need the police to act on such info
In this case well done Police Scotland, John Cowan and anyone else involved in making sure this reached the stage it has.
Now we see what the Prosecution Service makes of it behind the scenes. So many disappear behind the camouflague of “technicalites.” Lets hope this stops too. Better a case that fails than no case at all as the publicity it would engender would give rise to pressure to close the loopholes involved.
… pedants corner alert: gavels are not used in Scottish courts (I’ve fallen foul of this in the past … using a stock photo of a gavel to illustrate a justice story)
And the scales aren’t balanced, but perhaps that is just illustrating the reality
Good!