Further to last week’s news that Scottish gamekeeper and convicted sex offender Russell Mason had pleaded guilty to battering a trapped Goshawk to death on a shooting estate in Perthshire, in addition to firearms offences (see here), I’ve been looking to see how the game-shooting industry has responded to this latest conviction of a member of its community.
You’ll recall that this is the game-shooting industry whose organisations routinely state they have a ‘zero tolerance’ policy towards raptor persecution, and many of them are members of the Partnership for Action Against Wildlife Crime (PAW) Raptor Group, in which case you’d think they’d be quick to condemn this latest crime, and reassure the public that if Mason and/or the estate was a member of any of these organisations they’ve now been expelled, right?
Six days on from Mason’s conviction, here’s how those shooting organisations have responded to the news:
Scottish Gamekeepers Association – silence
Scottish Land & Estates – silence
Scottish Association for Country Sports – silence
British Association for Shooting & Conservation – silence
Countryside Alliance – silence
Game & Wildlife Conservation Trust – silence
Perhaps they’re all waiting for Mason to be sentenced next month before they denounce his criminal activities? Although I can’t think of any reasonable argument for a delay.
Or perhaps they’ll wait for the inevitable public revulsion when the RSPB publishes the video nasty showing Mason bludgeoning the Goshawk to death, before they bother to comment?
Their current collective silence speaks volumes.
Raptor Persecution UK 
Their silence speaks volumes