Today’s news that yet another golden eagle (‘Merrick’) has ‘disappeared’ in an area dominated by driven grouse shooting, and that Police Scotland has reason to “believe she has come to harm” (see here and here), won’t be a surprise to anyone who follows this blog. The eagle killers have been at it for years (e.g. here).
The only surprise is that it took this long for an eagle from the high profile South Scotland Golden Eagle Project to be targeted. Although I daresay that the project’s convention of notifying estates when any of the eagles were present over their land has helped to delay the inevitable.
The reason the eagle killers have been getting away with it for years (and years and years – nobody ever successfully prosecuted) is because the evidential threshold to charge a named individual is so very high. So even when, for example, three golden eagles were found poisoned on a grouse moor in the Highlands a few years ago, and a massive stash of the banned poison Carbofuran was found locked in the gamekeeper’s shed, to which only he had the key, there still wasn’t sufficient evidence to prosecute him for poisoning those eagles because the police/Crown Office couldn’t prove that that individual was the person who laid the poison that killed those three eagles.
But this frankly absurd situation is about to change, with the introduction of the Wildlife Management and Muirburn (Scotland) Bill, sometimes referred to as the ‘grouse moor reform Bill’.
This Bill proposes to introduce a licensing scheme for all grouse shooting in Scotland, and that licence could be suspended/revoked based on the civil burden of proof (i.e. ‘on a balance of probabilities’ that someone associated with the grouse shoot was responsible for an offence) rather than the much harder to achieve criminal burden of proof (i.e. where the prosecution has to prove ‘beyond reasonable doubt’ that a named individual was culpable).
The general principles of the Bill, furiously opposed by the grouse shooting industry, is due to be debated in the Scottish Parliament this Thursday (30 November 2023). If it passes, it will progress to Stage 2 where the finer details will be picked over.
It is vitally important that this Bill passes to Stage 2. It has been a long, long fight to get this Bill on the table and even though it’s not perfect, it offers the best opportunity to date to make the eagle-killers pay for their crimes.
If you’re angry about the loss of Merrick (and all the other golden eagles, hen harriers, white-tailed eagles, buzzards, goshawks, red kites, sparrowhawks, peregrines etc) that have been illegally killed before her, please consider channelling that anger into something positive.
If you’re a citizen of Scotland, please email your MSP, right now, and urge them to (a) attend the parliamentary debate on Thursday and (b) vote to pass the general principles of the Bill so it can progress to the next stage.
If you’re not sure who your MSP is, you can find them HERE.
For those who don’t live in Scotland but who care just as deeply about this issue (and let’s not forget, Merrick spent some time exploring parts of northern England so it’s not just Scotland who’s being robbed of these eagles), please send an email to the following Ministers and urge them to continue pressing on with this legislation without watering it down just to appease the eagle-killers:
Environment & Energy Minister, Gillian Martin MSP: ministerenergy@gov.scot
Green Skills, Circular Economy & Biodiversity Minister, Lorna Slater MSP: ministerforgsceb@gov.scot
Cabinet Secretary for Rural Affairs, Land Reform & Islands, Mairi Gougeon MSP: cabsecralri@gov.scot
Thank you.
Raptor Persecution UK 
“Although I daresay that the project’s convention of notifying estates when any of the eagles were present over their land has helped to delay the inevitable.”
Surely that can’t be. It can’t be right to advise estates of the presence of the tagged birds. It has to imply that it would be expected that an Eagle seen if not warned of this presence is going to be attacked. Does the project have that right?
I’ve always took it for granted and held personal opinion that this happens with Natural England tagged Hen Harriers in the North Pennines and North Yorkshire. I have read other people also saying it for several years, and I have looked for an example where NE have refuted any of these rumours, but haven’t found anything yet. If true in either or both cases (i.e. Eagles and Harriers) then it is a sad indication of a pathetic state of affairs and a reliance on nominally moral people doing seedy cap in hand deals on the quiet.
“Surely that can’t be. It can’t be right to advise estates of the presence of the tagged birds.”Why not? It let’s the estate know that the project knows where the bird is. Therefore, if anything untoward happens, the estate will end up in the spotlight.
You can’t say that an estate will not spot something as big as an eagle for them selves.
I think the point is that if a bird ‘as big as an eagle’ is seen, then it means the guy with the gun almost has carte blanche to take a pot-shot if they’ve not been told a project bird is in the vicinity. If they didn’t inform estates when the project birds were roaming it would leave an element of doubt in their minds and they could let it fly on, just in case. Despite the lack and likelihood of any prosecutions, they really don’t like this kind of publicity. So if they don’t know whether it’s tagged or not, all eagles receive some extra ‘protection’.
Can you set this up on what’s app as well please we can gather more signatures . Thanks
In Alex Milne’s post, he says “It has to imply that it would be expected that an Eagle seen if not warned of this presence is going to be attacked.”
That is exactly what happens rather too often, doesn’t it?
“Does the project have that right?”Of course it does. It is their bird. And anyone else also has ‘that right’, anyway… Eagles are not protected by the Official Secrets Act (and how many people have signed that?)
I sent e mails to all 3 and also my mp yvette cooper thank you
Thanks, Stephen.
e mailed Gillian…….Will do other 2 tomorrow.
RIP Merrick.You were majestic and beautiful, but slain by ignorant, narrow minded philistines.May Karma come and make them pay a heavy price.
Thanks, Hazel.
Very sorry to hear about this devastating news. Cat and Rick must be very disheartened but I’m sure they will continue and prevail. No longer live in Scotland but will email the ministers
Thanks, Rachel.
Done.
Thank you.
Just emailed all 3. T&C.
Thanks, Cathy.
What are the chances of putting up a reward (sum of money) for information leading to a successful conviction of the perpetrator(s).
The slaughter of such regal, majestic, iconic birds for little more purpose than to demonstrate the slaughter of grouse, status and wealth of a select few who call it a sport. It is utterly despicable to take away the life a creature who has every right to share the land with us all for very little economic gain. The perpetrators need to be brought to justice and severly punished.
I’ve emailed my MSP just now.
Thanks, Alastair.
It was disheartening to hear of the ” disappeared ” Golden Eagle and Hen Harrier . Living in one of the raptor hotspots , Angus , I am double angry . Merrick came from an enlightened shooting estate here that not only tolerates raptors but wholeheartedly encourages them and I know the landowner is , rightly , in despair at this tragedy . As someone who routinely monitors the Angus Glens the loss of yet another Hen Harrier leaves me more determined to highlight what goes on here and bring it to the public through social media and the local press .
As a resident outside scotland I have written to all three you suggest.
Thanks, Paul.
I wrote to my MSP, Willie Rennie, who assures me that the Scottish Liberal Democrats will be supporting the bill, and that GM licensing was in their last manifesto.
Thanks, Chris.
“I wrote to my MSP, Willie Rennie, who assures me that the Scottish Liberal Democrats will be supporting the bill…”
It is odd that the Scottish Lib Dems voted solidly with the Tories on the Hunting with Dogs (Scotland) Act 2023.
Emailed all eight of mine for Highlands & Islands, so far just the predictable from the Conservatives.
Thanks, Ron.
Thanks, Colin.
Thank you Ruth for all you do to publicise these barbaric acts. If licencing is introduced in Scotland as we all hope and trust it will be it will be in no small part down to your work and Mark Avery’s campaigning.
I have emailed the 3 ministers as requested.
Thanks for emailing them, Francis. It’s so important they get to hear the voices of many.
Thanks also for your kind words – I try and do my bit, but then so do a large number of other people and that’s what makes the difference. Although without public interest we wouldn’t get anywhere so thank you for your interest and support.
I agree of course that many people will have been important in getting to this point and I wouldn’t want to diminish in any way the countless hours put in by many raptor workers, RSPB investigators and others, but, from my own perspective, the Raptor Persecution blog and Mark Avery’s Inglorious seem pivotal. Until you started blogging there was nowhere where the relentless nature and the true scale of this particular type of wildlife crime was brought together in one place in real time, and the publication of Inglorious brought the issue to a wider audience.
I have e mailed Kate Forbes, my MSP and the Regional MSPs.
Thanks, Alister. It’ll be interesting to see how Kate Forbes votes…
Done
Thank you
Three emails sent…
Thank you
Has it never crossed your mind,s that it may have died naturally or it was hit by them ugly wind turbines why assume that some gamekeeper shot it
It has been proven that there is more wild raptors on well managed grouse moors than there is on any RSPB unmanaged ground
Stick that in your pipe and smoke it
Granny miller
0/10 for recycling that crap effort at obfuscation, Granny. Smoked it in one, thanks. Please credit the project team (you can read about them on their website) who are closely tracking all of the movements of these Eagles both with satellite tags and with boots & binoculars on the ground, with the brains enough to have had your theory at least cross their minds before they involved the police.
Notwithstanding your obvious ignorance regarding the function of the tags, and your parroting of the baseless claim of higher raptor numbers, can you clarify (with punctuation) what you mean by
“RSPB unmanaged ground”?
Answer came there none.