Last Friday I was contacted by a journalist from the Scottish Daily Mail who asked me this:
“I wondered if it would be possible to get a comment from Raptor Persecution UK about the Scottish Gamekeepers Association claiming that ‘insults’ made about them and the work they do on Raptor Persecution UK’s blog is taking its toll on members. In the recent chairman’s column, he claims ‘skilled predator management is now dressed up by campaigners as ‘casual killing’. What is Raptor Persecution UK’s response to this.
It’s for tomorrow’s paper, so a response today would be much appreciated“.
The thing was, I hadn’t read the ‘Chairman’s column’ she referred to. I guessed she was referring to the SGA’s latest quarterly rag for members, ‘Scottish Gamekeeper‘, which hadn’t yet been published (it’s due out this weekend).
It seemed pretty obvious to me then, that someone from the SGA was attempting to plant yet another story in the press, portraying themselves as ‘victims’, presumably in a pathetic attempt to elicit public support and sympathy for their wildlife-killing ways. We’ve been here before (e.g. here in 2021), although to do it at Christmas-time seemed more than a little cynical.
Normally I wouldn’t give the time of day to a journalist from the Mail but as she’d asked so nicely I thought it would be rude not to respond.
I told the journalist that given the SGA’s members’ long-running and well-documented campaign of vitriol and hatred against those of us who campaign against the illegal killing of birds of prey by gamekeepers on shooting estates (e.g. see here and here), this latest attempt to present themselves as victims of ‘insults’ was risible.
Are these the same gamekeepers who, for the duration of this last month, have been sharing an ‘advent calendar of abuse’ on social media, this time targeting named staff members of the RSPB?
This ‘advent calendar of abuse’ is written and published by the grouse shooting industry’s very own hateful astroturfers, C4PMC (see here for an insight in to who they really are), and C4PMC has form for it.
They first started publishing these vindictive narratives in December 2020 (during a Coronavirus lockdown, no less) where each day they targeted a named individual known to campaign against driven grouse shooting. Those targeted included all the usual suspects (me, Chris Packham, various RSPB staff members, raptor fieldworkers, conservationists, even politicians), and guess who was involved in spreading that malicious abuse via their own social media accounts?
Yep, the SGA and friends, including former SGA Director and regular SGA columnist Bert Burnett, and several members of the Scottish Regional Moorlands Group, including the Angus Glens Moorland Group, Speyside Moorland Group, Southern Uplands Moorland Group, Tayside Moorland Group and the Grampian Moorland Group. Here are some examples:
And now they’re actually claiming that ‘insults’ are ‘taking their toll’ on SGA members?!
I also told the journalist, on the issue of ‘casual killing’, recent research has demonstrated that up to a quarter of a million animals are killed on Scotland’s grouse moors each year (in addition to all the gamebirds that are killed), and nearly half of those animals are non-target species (e.g. Hedgehogs, Dippers, Mistle Thrushes). I’d argue that referring to this as ‘casual killing’ is not an ‘insult’, it’s justified criticism.
I also told the journalist that whilst I thought that limited and targeted predator control, in some circumstances, for the conservation of threatened species, is justifiable, the wholesale slaughter of wildlife, just to protect gamebirds that are later shot and killed for so-called ‘sport’, is, in my opinion, inexcusable.
If you’re killing wildlife for a living, in order for others to pay some money to kill even more wildlife just for fun, don’t be surprised when others have legitimate concerns about it.
Funnily enough, the article in the Scottish Daily Mail never materialised. When I asked the journalist what had happened to it, she said the editor had pulled it.
Perhaps there was a realisation that the world according to the SGA was just too embarrassing, even for the Mail!
Raptor Persecution UK 
I hope you can bill the DM for your time, evidently wasted, at short notice when you had other tasks to do.
Fantastic work again Ruth-Scotland is so immensely lucky to have you around.
I hope you have a chance to relax with those you love at Christmas, and that the SGA get the constipation they deserve
The shooting industry is under increasing pressure and is in decline so expect more vitriol.
2024 has been a good year for us and a bad year for them. In the last year there is the beginnings of a licencing system. Lead shot looks as though its future is shot. There are fewer moors now that will allow grouse shooting. Therese Coffey and her mates are gone. Muirburn is under close scrutiny from the public. More and more people are aware of raptor persecution and do not like it. The Police have woken up.
“Thank you Ruth for keeping at this work. It must be so frustrating but you have a huge following cheering you all the way. Good job!”
Well said – sums it up nicely.
I think we need to give credit where it’s due: the SGA has – and continues to do – a fantastic job of alienating people in the middle ground who might have had some sympathy for shooting interests. And if it’s upsetting gamekeepers its time they thought long and hard about what they are doing. But I am still waiting for a single Grouse shooting estate to come out in public against the slaughter of Hen harriers.
Thank you for all you do Ruth. There are many many of us who completely support what you do. Don’t let the bastards grind you down! May I wish you and all your team a fabulous Xmas and New Year xxx
The vitriol from SGA on social media is just appalling! The desperation in the tone of their communication is palpable. Are we seeing the death throes of this sordid recreation that is dependent on criminality for its future survival. Through your blog and pieces on Channel 4, more and more people are aware and concerned about the fate of our wildlife.
Thanks Ruth for all you do. I hope you manage to get a break and a bit of respite over Christmas. There is growing awareness and support for a ban on driven grouse shooting. Please sign the petition if you have not done so already https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/700036
The Scottish Mail should be writing an article exposing the SGA’s vile and abusive online comments. All it does is to show what sort of people they really are. ‘Guardians of the Moor’ they are not.
Thank you for the fantastic work you do bith here and at Wild Justice. Hoping our beautiful birds of prey stay safe and wishing you a very happy Xmas x
Whenever I try to engage with these groups all I get in response is insults rather than reason. I fear it simply demonsrates what closed minds we are dealing with.
The stress that the likes of SGA members may or may not believe they are put under by RPUK, is to me consequence of them having no answer to the general thesis that the scale of predator control for game shooting is excessive, and that the numbers of game birds shot (and the manner in which they are shot) is also excessive. They are deeply frustrated by there not being a good reason why the numbers of birds & beasts killed purely for sport need be so high. I think I could hold my own in defending the concept of some predator control for some game shooting – both for the pot and for sport, but not the industry model that we have today. It is too big and ugly, too cruel, too callous and unnecessary, morally bankrupt and in terms of sporting ethics is stubbornly (and seemingly proudly) rooted in the Edwardian pre-WW1 ‘big house’ mindset.
Well you’ve covered everything gloriously well written and comments as usual spot on fantastic work Ruth glad SGA are feeling miserable because xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx. And wake up feeling happy Merry Christmas to all RPUK and may a new year be a new beginning for wildlife and good people.
Brilliant work Ruth and fellow campaigners. Appalling abuse suffered by yourselves and our beautiful raptors. Future generations will enjoy a better world without doubt. Petition signed (again) .. off out to monitor a local eagle site just now. Have a peaceful Christmas.
Thank you Ruth for taking the time to respond to the journalist’s request. That’s one more person in the press who has a more balanced view of what is really going on.
Ruth – you are incredible. Thank you for all your courage and skill in dealing with these vile thugs.