A new petition has been launched calling on the UK Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Mary Creagh MP) to bring in legal reform to help stop the illegal persecution of birds of prey.
The petition has been created by Friends of the Dales, a registered charity working to protect and enhance the Yorkshire Dales, as part of its Eyes on the Skies campaign. Regular blog readers will know that the Yorkshire Dales is a national hotspot for raptor persecution, particularly on many of the privately-owned grouse moors inside this National Park.
The petition is focused on a letter from Friends of the Dales to Mary Creagh MP, asking her to prioritise what are described as three essential reforms:
1. Sentencing guidelines and the strengthening of penalties for offenders.
The persistence of raptor persecution demonstrates that current sanctions do not act as a credible deterrent. Introducing sentencing guidelines with meaningful fines and ensuring the appropriate use of custodial sentences would send a clear message that the criminal killing of birds of prey is being treated as a serious crime.
2. Establish a National Wildlife Crime Database.
Wildlife crime is not currently a notifiable offence. As a result, serious incidents of wildlife crime are recorded with the same priority as minor offences. Making wildlife crime notifiable would allow the creation of a national database, enabling police forces, land managers, and conservation bodies to identify trends, focus resources and coordinate action across regions.
3. Regulate and license the gamebird-shooting industry.
Analysis by the RSPB shows that most confirmed incidents of raptor persecution, and the majority of related convictions, are linked to land managed for gamebird shooting. In the Yorkshire Dales, where this is a dominant land use, robust regulation and a licensing system are necessary to ensure accountability and prevent further offences.
You can read the full letter and sign the petition HERE.
Raptor Persecution UK 
Dear Raptor Persecution I sent a letter to the Prime Minister about a month ago asking for action on the criminality in the grouse shooting sector……guess what…I have received no response whatsoever. Herein lies the problem…it’s at the head of government. I suggest you need to expose him and his team. Good luck! Ian Hart
I agree he needs to be exposed and there is much to expose believe me.
Well done to Friends of the Dales for pushing on this – what most people would agree is fairly common sense, especially Point 2 which I cannot understand why it isn’t done / seems such hard work? Then again, as there also isn’t any records of even ballpark numbers of “vermin” or “pest & predator” species killed legally* (so that people could gain an impression of the effects of the entirety of effort of managing moors for grouse) then maybe I should stop being surprised?
*I recently noted a reply to a gent who asked about this on YDMG Facebook – he was brusquely told that “Since these sites are privately managed such figures remain the property of the estates” and “Species are well known, numbers are intellectual property”.
Even in our National Parks? Time for a change in the law there too, I think.
Anyway, another point, having followed the link to sign the petition I am unsure whether (as with a Parliamentary petition) I am able or not to sign this without my name being being attached to the public record version of letter to the MP?
There is one figure which should serve to horrify anyone not aware of the sheer barbarism of what goes on. A 2012 Government study revealed that only around a quarter of animals caught in snares were the target species. Other, more recent, estimates have confirmed a similar figure. The majority of species caught included non-target species such as hares badgers, domestic cats and dogs, deer and even otters. In what other sphere of management would such a high failure rate, especially in a process inflicting injury or death, be tolerated? Many of the animals killed will have been protected species. Trapping them in snares effectively legitimises their capture. The sooner they are banned in England the better.
Agreed. Rabbits caught around their “middles” are the biggest “unintended bycatch” in my experience. I see them thrown to one side (or on the piles of other dead stuff) at snaring locations, with a telltale deep indentation in their fur (caused by the wire), between their belly and tops of their back legs.