Last November the BBC aired an episode of Highland Cops (Series 2, Episode 4) that featured a Police Scotland Wildlife Crime Officer, PC Dan Sutherland, investigating the suspicious disappearance of a satellite-tagged golden eagle on a grouse moor in the Highlands (available for next 9 months on iPlayer here, starts at 35.15 mins).
The programme followed PC Sutherland, along with an RSPB Investigations Officer, searching the moor for evidence of either the eagle or its tag.
PC Sutherland is an experienced WCO and he explained that this wasn’t the first time he’d been involved in an investigation into this type of incident and he gave a comprehensive commentary on the lengths that offenders will go to to hide the evidence of their crimes (e.g. tags being burned, tags being tied to rocks and dumped in lochs).
He also said: “So within Highlands & Islands, 100% of all birds of prey that are being killed happen on or near land that’s managed for gamebird shooting“.
The Scottish Gamekeepers Association (SGA) lodged a formal complaint to the BBC about what the SGA described in its quarterly members’ rag as having “caused unfair reputation [sic] damage” to the game-shooting industry and wanted the BBC to make “a prominent correction“.
Here’s the response from the BBC’s Executive Complaints Unit, published 13 February 2025:
It shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone, not least the SGA, that this complaint was not upheld. The Scottish Parliament voted overwhelmingly last year to introduce new legislation (Wildlife Management & Muirburn (Scotland) Act 2024) precisely because raptor persecution, and particularly the illegal killing of golden eagles, persists on many driven grouse moors.
Well done PC Sutherland for saying it as it is, and well done to the BBC for not pandering to the histrionics of the SGA.
Raptor Persecution UK 
Well done PC Sutherland
An excellent outcome. Perhaps the BBC at last realises the truth about game shooting estates.
We had a white tailed Eagle poisoned in West Sussx, on a game estate. The police didn’t seem too keen to fully investigate it apparently.
Makes a nice change from Countryfile’s usual hagiography of the shooting and hunting industries! They have done so many programmes on gamekeepers and I do not remember a single one that raised the issues of illegal killing, or poisoning, the barbarity of snaring, the illegal use of Fenn traps etc.
“Makes a nice change from Countryfile’s usual hagiography of the shooting and hunting industries!”
I trust you watched the latest Countryfile episode (16/02/25) which featured the failings of the Hunting Act 2004, where hunt supporters were granted first and last say on the matter?
Dear Sirs, I am not surprised that the BBC fails to accept reality. Their Board needs replacing and they need reminding of the terms of their Charter. Yours sincerely, XXXXX XXXXX XXXXX XXXXX XXXXX XXXXX XXXXX XXXXX XXXXX
“Dear Sirs, I am not surprised that the BBC fails to accept reality”. Nothing to do with ‘the BBC’: it was a statement by an experienced Police Officer. I wrote about what I thought was a ‘pretty good programme’ at the time.
WHAT terms and WHAT Charter? Could you enlighten us..please?
Sorry, which reality?
what reputation are the SGA talking about, they don’t have one!!
100% they have a reputation , it’s a BAD one
Dear dear Jean, the sga do have a reputation, but the way things are today, I am unable to truthfully say what that is, without it being censored, because those words are apparently unacceptable , even if they are simply the truth.
When an experienced Wildlife Police Officer says it as it is based on that experience and its not edited out that is a win. When the complaint this engenders from the keepers organisation about reputational damage ( what Effing reputation!!!!) is turned down it becomes a win win. Wonderful SGA members shot in the arse/both feet by the SGA itself.
Raptor persecution is as prevalent as ever on and around game bird shooting estates. It’s good to know Police Scotland are well aware of this and actively investigating these crimes, which is more can be said for NatureScot. Well done Officer Sutherland for calling it out and to BBC Scotland for producing an equally informative and entertaining programme.
The evidence is there for all to see. All raptors are under threat when it comes to the money grabbing land-owners. They think it’s so big and clever, shooting a defenceless creature out of the sky. It’s bad enough breeding then shooting game birds for pleasure, but to also shoot their predators, is obscene. Agencies like RSPB need to step up, and convict some big name criminals.
“Agencies like RSPB need to step up, and convict some big name criminals.”
The RSPB do not have the legal powers to seize evidence, search premises or arrest people to seriously contemplate private prosecutions, never mind the horrendous court costs of bringing such action. Any court case could be subject to the RSPB being accused of a serious conflict of interests over the integrity of whatever evidence it presented… as being both the ‘victim’ and prosecutor.
Which is why the vast majority of criminal prosecutions are brought by the independent Crown Prosecution Service (and the Serious Fraud Office): organisations in receipt of full public funding, and indemnity, for their work.
That does not stop the RSPB from investigating potential crimes, but they have to rely upon Police cooperation for searches and seizures etc… and then any evidence seized by the Police is passed to the CPS, who take the decision on whether to prosecute.
The RSPCA used to bring their own private prosecutions, but announced in 2021 – under pressure from MPs – their intention to relinquish that role in favour of the CPS:
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/jan/28/rspca-plans-to-stop-taking-animal-abusers-to-court-privately
The RSPCA have special provisions, developed since 1824, to establish the integrity of their private prosecutions, but anyone prosecuted by the RSPCA has the automatic right to request the Director of Public Prosecutions to intervene in the process. The DPP can then take the case over or stop it. And any defendant can do this without involving a Solicitor.
Also, any such successful private prosecution by the RSPCA through a Magistrates Court is automatically appealed in the Crown Court. And any successful appeal can then bring a civil claim against the RSPCA for malicious prosecution (not so with the CPS). Court costs can be awarded against the RSPCA.
See https://committees.parliament.uk/writtenevidence/8221/pdf/
The most notorious cases of private prosecutions in England and Wales were, of course, those carried out by the Post Office (700) during the Horizon scandal.
One consequence is a move to reform such provisions:
https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2024/jan/13/plans-to-reform-private-prosecutions-after-post-office-horizon-scandal
In stark contrast, in Scotland the law has gone the other way: the SSPCA has just had its powers extended to search, examine and seize evidence (under certain restricted circumstances) in connection with investigating wildlife crime. However, the SSPCA still cannot prosecute in its own right: they must rely, for that, upon the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service.
See https://www.gov.scot/publications/scottish-government-response-taskforce-report-sspca-powers/
Isn’t it time that we wound Keith up ………and then sent him off to tackle wildlife crime on his own and in his own inimitable style. No need for Wild Justice to have to threaten court action – just send Keith off to explain the legal niceties in great detail!
Cheaper and possibly more effective.
Bye
Mike
“Isn’t it time that we wound Keith up ………and then sent him off to tackle wildlife crime on his own and in his own inimitable style.”
I have already done that, thanks. Took court action by myself. Do you care?
Exactly…they seem to think they are intouchable..exactly the same as the Fox Hunting shower…[Ed: rest of comment deleted as libellous]
As usual gloriously put I stopped watching country file a long time ago they are so PC and fake as you say Simon , Mark, everyone good truthful points the sooner grouse shooting and illegal killing is stopped and recognised hunting banned there is no place for persecution or cruelty in this day n age. Well done PC Sutherland and all forces fighting this great cause. Hopefully the good will win.
An episode of Countryfile was the last BBC programme I watched, over ten tears ago. It covered a subject with which I am familiar. The presenter included what I felt to be a misleading Walter Mitty act. It was potentially damaging to those involved in that business.
I gave up: TV to recycling, no more licence. And were they a persistent nuisance over lack of licence.
I hope this change continues.
Watching this series was enlightening in a way, in that on one week a gamekeeper didn’t notice a thick wire mesh blocking many holes in an otter holt, when challenged by a wildlife cop. Whilst the next week a gamekeeper spotted a single fishing rod hidden in a bush, probably used by poachers, and wanted the wildlife cops to take action.
do they teach this type of selective observation in Gamekeeper school?
Full credit to PC Sutherland for sticking to his guns, and for getting the boots on and his hands dirty to try and find the tag and/or corpse. He’s the right type of person for the job and clearly cares. But regrettably for me that’s also where a deep sense of frustration sets in – one policeman and one RSPB! On foot -poking about & plunging hands into (one of no doubt hundreds of) a boggy pools. No scent dog(s), no metal detector, no additional volunteers – no sign of an ATV nearby for shelter & food so that the endeavour doesn’t became physically arduous before you’ve even started (and it looked a nice day, nevermind winter!). And I just can’t get my head around PC Sutherland reflecting (at about 54mins) that “we have to be lucky once, they have to be lucky every time they do this ..” No, that’s just not right. Neither my experience nor all the reading I’ve done supports that . I would say that in the first place the killers have to be very unlucky (or sloppy) for any hint of a crime to even arise, then unluckier still for the Police to find good evidence to get a case together, and then monumentally unlucky on an intergalactic scale to get successfully prosecuted and given a meaningful penalty. To me it’s PC Sutherland & friends who seem to be the ones that need all the luck, not the killers? The killers can influence the law of averages (of what is to many of them still a fun game of cat & mouse) to a huge extent by their own craftiness – and these days it is use of modern equipment & technology & ATV’s in tandem with the ‘ye olde cunning’ we associate with their predecessors. PC Sutherland and others like him need more support in this arms race if they are to improve their odds and really go toe to toe and have a fighting chance. On the blog about North Yorkshire Police upping the ante there was mention of drones that can fly around and potentially detect satellite tags. That to me, as well as a well trained dog & handler (not necessarily a police dog), is the type of thing PC Sutherland should be able to deploy on days like this in future, and from a vehicle nearby – instead of yomping up from the foot of the hill (*no doubt landowner would give permission without need for a warrant 🤣)