NatureScot is currently running one of its periodic public consultations on the use of General Licences for wildlife management.
In response, RSPB Scotland has today issued the following statement:
NOT FIT FOR PURPOSE: SCOTLAND’S BIRD CONTROL LICENSING SYSTEM IS FAILING WILDLIFE
The licencing system allowing people to lethally control wild birds in Scotland is not fit for purpose, according to RSPB Scotland.
General Licences allow people to carry out activities that would otherwise be illegal, such as controlling certain bird species to prevent serious damage to livestock and crops or to protect other wildlife.
However, under the current system landowners do not need to apply for a licence to lethally control birds such as Crows, Jackdaws, and Rooks.
While NatureScot state that the licence must be used appropriately and abide by animal welfare requirements, there is no process by which usage of these licences is routinely monitored or reported.
“We recognise that the licenced control of some species may be appropriate in certain evidence-based circumstances,” said Ian Thomson, Investigations Manager for RSPB Scotland.
“Yet the killing of otherwise protected species needs to be backed up by a system of compliance monitoring, submission of licence returns, and publication by NatureScot of summarised results on an annual basis – as the RSPB does for its own landholdings.
“We currently have no idea how many wild birds are killed under General Licence in Scotland every year“.
NatureScot is currently holding a consultation on General Licences, which could see changes to how the current system functions.
At present, NatureScot does not record who uses these licences, to what extent they are used or why, nor does it record where in Scotland they are utilised.
The unaccountability within this system has repeatedly been abused such as in the recent case of a Perthshire gamekeeper who beat a Goshawk to death after pulling it from a crow trap, which was being used under the General Licence.
“This consultation gives us a chance to ask whether a system that permits the unrestricted, unmonitored, and unregulated killing of protected species should continue,” added Thomson.
“The proposals in this consultation currently perpetuate a system that is out-dated, unaccountable and not fit for purpose.
“Multiple police investigations and successful prosecutions show how this system is widely misused and abused to the detriment of protected species, including birds of prey.
“In order to fully protect Scotland’s incredible wildlife, we need a licencing system which is up to standard”.
The RSPB has called on those with concerns to respond to the consultation here.
The closing date for NatureScot’s consultation on General Licences is 31 August.
ENDS
For anyone interested in responding to the consultation, Wild Justice has provided a step-by-step guide, here.
Raptor Persecution UK 
And they are so right and nor are the systems in place in the rest of the UK fit for purpose either. All are widely open to abuse with little chance of being caught, meaningful punishment or for any redress. The whole system needs a thorough overhaul with a vigorous licensing system put in including for all game shooting and game bird release as the adherents to these so called sports and those who provide it have proved time again and again they cannot stick to either the law or best practice. Their claims of self regulation are at best delusional and at worst a very sick joke, the criminals in their midst are totally integrated and never shopped.