Category: 2013 persecution incidents

Buzzard shot in the head: police appeal for info

buzzard 3Police in Greater Manchester are appealing for information after a dead buzzard was found in a field in Bolton. X-rays revealed the bird had been shot in the head.

The bird was found by a dog walker on 25th June in a field close to Salford Road and St. Helens Road.

PC Randolph Lyle makes some frankly bizarre statements in the police appeal, e.g. “shooting and killing one [buzzard] can have a devastating impact on their habitat and biodiversity“. Eh? He also seems quite keen to put across an argument that this buzzard wasn’t killed by someone from the game-shooting industry…

Nevertheless, Greater Manchester Police should be credited for at least putting out a press statement, so well done to them for that.

Anyone with information can call GMP on 0161-856-5578 or can make an anonymous call to Crimestoppers on 0800-555-111.

Greater Manchester Police press release here.

Red kite poisoned in Scotland

rk5And so it continues….

Today, the Scottish Government agency responsible for reporting on poisoned animals released the stats for the first quarter of this year (i.e. Jan-March 2013).

You will not be surprised to learn that, yet again, poisoning incidents have taken place and Police Scotland have chosen to suppress the information.

The data confirm that a poisoned red kite was discovered in March in ‘Central Scotland’ – no detailed location information given, naturally. Lab tests show it had been poisoned with Mevinphos. Four months for that information to slip out in a largely un-read government report. The level of secrecy involved in these cases is quite remarkable.

The data also show the poisoned baits that were uncovered at Leadhills in March – interestingly, they confirm the presence of Carbofuran but don’t comment on the number of baits found (which we know was a considerable number – see here) but they do say the baits were found inside gamebags. Four months on from the discovery and we’re still waiting for Police Scotland to make a public statement, not least to warn residents and visitors about the discovery of potentially fatal poison in a publicly-accessible location.

Also included in the data is the discovery of a Carbofuran-laced pigeon bait in Tayside in February 2013. Again, where was/is the public warning from Police Scotland?

It’s just bloody pathetic. Don’t tell us that the information has been suppressed for ‘operational’ reasons – that’s totally ridiculous and isn’t fooling anyone. The suppression of information benefits the landowners and gamekeepers – nobody else.

Compare this suppression of information with the work of Police Wildlife Crime Officers in Devon & Cornwall. Two of their WCOs – PC Josh Marshall and PC Paul Freestone – are so amazingly proactive that as well as having their own personal wildlife crime blogs (here and here), they’ve even set up a Wildlife Crime Group blog for their area (see here). On this blog, you’ll find information providing tips and advice about different types of wildlife crime, as well as information about specific alleged offences. For example, here they report on the recent suspected poisoning of two buzzards, and even provide photographs – all within a few days of the alleged crime being reported. Hats off to those two guys – committed, proactive, helpful and informative (although if you’re reading this Josh & Paul, you might want to revise your information about potential threats to harriers!!).

Back to Scotland….we would like to know why Police Scotland consistently fails to inform the public about alleged raptor persecution incidents, especially those involving the discovery of highly dangerous banned poisons in public areas. The public has a right to be kept informed. Sure, the Police may need a few weeks to conduct their initial investigations without letting on what they’re up to – as we’ve said over and over and over again, nobody in their right mind would want to interfere with that process and jeopardise a potential prosecution – but when it gets to three, four, five months after the incident and its bloody obvious that the investigation is dead in the water, then what possible reason is there for withholding the information, putting the lives of people and animals at risk? Here are some reasons: wanting to appease the landowners and gamekeepers on whose land the poison had been found, and wanting to appease the wider gameshooting industry who just hate to have the truth exposed about poisoning and the other methods of persecution that are being used against raptors on a regular basis.

If you’re also curious about the blanket suppression of information, you could always email the new Police Scotland Wildlife Crime Portfolio Leader, Detective Superintendent Cameron Cavin, and ask him to explain. One question to ask, as a friendly opener, nothing more, might be whether he has ever held membership in a game-shooting organisation, like, ooh, er, let’s say BASC for example, and if so, whether that membership is still held?…. Coincidentally, Det. Super. Cavin also just happens to have strong connections with central Scotland so he might also have information about the progress of the case concerning the poisoned red kite found there in March, or perhaps about the buzzard found there in March that had been caught in an illegal trap and had to be euthanised as a result of its injuries (see here). Bear in mind if you do email him, he’s obliged to reply within 20 working days so he can’t just ignore you, although obviously he can choose to fob you off without providing a satisfactory answer.

Email: Cameron.Cavin@centralscotland.pnn.police.uk

Industry leaders respond to buzzard-killing gamekeeper case

The public’s reaction to what gamekeeper Colin Burne did to those trapped buzzards (see here) has been widespread disgust and condemnation. People have been commenting all over the social media networks, with many angered that Burne’s punishment was so pathetic (a 12 month suspended sentence – in other words, keep your nose clean for the next year and we’ll say no more about it).

We thought it’d be interesting to read what the game-shooting industry’s leaders had to say about the case. At the very least, we would expect outright condemnation of Burne’s activities and a warning to others that criminal activites will not be tolerated by the industry. We visited a few websites this morning and this is what we found:

National Gamekeepers Organisation: silence

British Association for Conservation & Shooting (BASC): silence

Countryside Alliance: silence

Game and Wildlife Conservation Trust: silence

Now, compare these responses with that of the National Association of Regional Game Councils in Ireland, who reacted to the illegal shooting of a buzzard in January this year. Here’s what NARGC Director Des Crofton had to say:

“The shooting of birds of prey, who are all protected, can only be condemned in the strongest possible terms. The person who shot this bird is not fit to have a firearm. I would urge the authorities, if the person is identified, that they are prosecuted, have their firearm licence revoked and never allowed have one again. This is inexcusable. If I ever found one of my members was responsible for something like this, he would be out of the association so fast his feet wouldn’t touch the ground“.

We blogged about Des Crofton’s statement at the time (see here), and mentioned that an equally strong leadership approach was required from industry leaders in England and Scotland. Sadly, it seems they’re not up to the job.

It would also be good to see a statement from the estate that leased the land to the Cliburn Shoot syndicate, stating that the lease had been withdrawn.

Burne dumping BZ in bucket

Buzzard-killing video – WARNING: GRAPHIC CONTENT

Further to our earlier story (here) about gamekeeper Colin Burne, convicted for trapping buzzards and clubbing them to death, the RSPB has now posted the unedited version of their covert video surveillance.

WARNING – GRAPHIC CONTENT. Video can be viewed here.

Burne clubbing buzzard to death

Buzzards trapped & beaten to death with a stick: gamekeeper convicted

A gamekeeper from Cumbria has today been convicted for killing buzzards by trapping them in a crow cage trap and then battering them to death with a wooden stick.

Gamekeeper Colin Burne, 64, of Winters Park, Penrith, was caught on camera bashing the buzzards’ skulls in with a wooden stake after the RSPB Investigations Team installed a covert video at the trap in February this year. The trap was being operated on land managed by a private shooting syndicate in Whinfell Forest, near Penrith, Cumbria. A further search of the area revealed ‘many other’ dead buzzards, to which Burne admitted killing five.

Burne admitted three charges at Carlisle Magistrates Court today. He received a 70-day jail sentence for each charge, suspended for 12 months due to his ill health.

RSPB press release here.

The film footage will be published shortly.

We’ll be looking for a statement from the National Gamekeepers Organisation to confirm that if Burne was one of their members, he has now been expelled for life.

The team involved with this investigation and conviction (RSPB Investigations, Cumbria Constabulary and the Crown Prosecution Service) deserve huge credit, especially given the short time span between crime and conviction (less than five months). It seems pretty clear from the evidence that this gamekeeper had been routinely killing buzzards for some time. Will his conviction stop him? It’s hard to say – a suspended sentence is hardly a strong deterrent – but perhaps his ill health will put an end to his criminal career. Certainly the Whinfell Forest shoot will be under closer scrutiny from now on, whether Burne is still involved or not.

So, here we have yet another criminal gamekeeper convicted on the basis of covert video surveillance in England. The CPS and the Magistrates Court don’t seem to have had a problem accepting the video footage as admissible evidence. Had Burne been operating just a few miles further north, this case would not have even reached court, thanks to the Crown Office’s outright refusal to accept this type of evidence. We are greatly looking forward to Paul Wheelhouse’s response to our question from the other day – has the Lord Advocate told the Crown Prosecutors in Scotland to start accepting covert surveillance footage as admissible evidence?

UPDATE 9th July 11.30am: Further details about what Colin Burne did have been published in the News and Star newspaper (here), including an edited version of the video footage showing Burne entering the crow cage trap armed with a fence post to club the buzzards to death. This bastard, who was part of the Cliburn Shoot, knew exactly what he was doing. When initially questioned by the police he denied harming the buzzards – it was only after the video footage was shown to him that he admitted his guilt.

Photo: PC Helen Felton and RSPB Investigator Bob Elliot with two of the buzzards that Burne had clubbed to death, found hidden under a brash pile close to the trap.

PC Helen Felton and RSPB with two killed buzzards_a

UPDATE 9th July 2013 8.15pm: The unedited version of the video has now been posted by the RSPB. View it here. WARNING – IT’S GRAPHIC.

Another sat-tagged golden eagle ‘disappears’ in Aberdeenshire

Well would you believe it. Another young satellite-tagged golden eagle has mysteriously ‘disappeared’.

This time it’s a two-year-old bird called ‘Angus 33’, being sat-tracked by Roy Dennis (see here). The bird’s last known signal came from the North Glenbuchat Estate on 13th May 2013. A search was undertaken but nothing was found.

Naturally, there’s no evidence to demonstrate the eagle has been illegally killed, it’s just vanished into thin air in the same area that several other sat-tagged golden eagles have ‘disappeared’ in recent years. What a bloody mystery, eh?

Further mysteries from here include who used Carbofuran to poison a young golden eagle found in March 2011 (here), who used Carbofuran to poison a buzzard found in May 2011 (here, p.9) and who shot the short-eared owl that was found stuffed under a rock in May 2011 (here, p.6 & p.14)?

The Headkeeper of this estate was convicted of poisoning offences in 2006 (see here).

Cryptic press release issued after red kite dies of ‘unnatural causes’

A dead red kiteA press release has gone out this morning appealing for information after a dead red kite was discovered on Royal Deeside. According to the information released (see here), the bird was found in an area of woodland near Aboyne on 6th April 2013. The wing-tagged bird was known to be a three-year-old breeding female, originally from Perthshire, who had successfully raised three offspring in 2012 close to the area where subsequently she was killed.

Bizarrely, the press release does not explain how the kite was killed. Instead it has the following cryptic statement:

“After recovery of the carcass, a post mortem was carried out. This revealed that the bird’s death was not by natural causes”.

So what does that mean then? Was she poisoned? Caught in a leg-hold trap? Shot? Caught in a crow trap and clubbed to death?

We’ve seen this sort of press release before, notably in 2010 when the police force formerly known as Northern Constabulary put out an appeal for information after an osprey died from what was described as ‘deliberately inflicted injuries’ (see here). A few days later it was confirmed that the osprey had been shot (see here).

If this kite’s death was the result of a crime, which we presume it was given that she died of ‘unnatural causes’ and the police are appealing for information, then why the hell aren’t we just told straight? What’s the point of dressing it up to make it sound less serious than it is?

And why, yet again, has there been such a long delay between the discovery of the dead bird and the appeal for information? The bird was found on 6th April – the weekend after the Easter bank holiday – that’s over two and a half months ago. Sure, the police will want to conduct their initial investigations and so there may be an understandable delay of a couple of weeks, but there’s absolutely no operational excuse for a delay of nearly three months before it’s made public.

So here we have yet another example of an illegally-persecuted raptor – yet more evidence that the wildlife criminals are continuing to defy the law, safe in the knowledge that they’re virtually untouchable. Where are the promised ‘new measures’ to tackle raptor persecution from our Environment Minister, Paul Wheelhouse? We expected a statement from him this week but so far, nothing. The Scottish parliamentary recess begins next week (29th June until 1st September) – will we hear from him before then? Email: ministerforenvironment@scotland.gsi.gov.uk

Some background info about Scottish red kites:

Following their extinction as a breeding bird in Scotland in 1917, a joint RSPB Scotland and Scottish Natural Heritage project was undertaken with the aim of restoring the species to its former range.

Kites were released in four areas of Scotland:

In 1989-1994, 93 birds on the Black Isle;

In 1996-2001, 103 birds in Stirlingshire/Perthshire;

In 2001-05, 104 birds in Dumfries & Galloway;

In 2007-09, 101 birds in Aberdeenshire.

In 2012, there were 214 breeding pairs of red kites in Scotland.

From 1989-2011, a minimum of 75 red kites fell victim to illegal poisoning, with a further seven the victims of illegal shooting, trapping or nest destruction.

UPDATE 13.30hr: It’s been confirmed that this red kite had been shot. Why the bloody hell didn’t they just say that to begin with?

More false allegations about this blog

About two months ago the landowners’ organisation, Scottish Land & Estates, made a series of false allegations about this blog (see here).

It seems they just can’t help themselves. Two days ago (14th June 2013) they published the following on their website, in response to our blog about the discovery of poisoned baits on Leadhills Estate (our original article here) –

“Information about police investigation leaked by anonymous website

Confidential information about an active police investigation on a grouse moor has again been leaked to the media.

This relates to an incident in March at Leadhills Estate where according to the police, some items were removed for scientific analysis and a number of people were detained, but no charges have been made. An anonymous website, allegedly with close links to the animal rights movement, found out confidential information that Government science laboratory analysis of the items had tested positive for carbofuran and published this confidential information, resulting in media coverage on 11th June.

Although there were no birds of prey involved, the whole land management and shooting industry is very concerned about a possible attempted poisoning after such a sharp drop in such incidents over the last three years. However, little is known about the detail of this case and it is vital that nothing is done or said which might risk prejudicing the legal process or cause unjustifiable damage to the reputations of anyone connected to the estate. Questions certainly need to be asked about the leaking and publication of material information about the case while this is still under active police investigation.

The media stories included a comment from Scottish Land & Estates which said: “It would be inappropriate to comment while the facts of the matter have still be established. As an organisation, we are actively involved in the Partnership for Action Against Wildlife Crime and our membership undertakes an enormous amount of good work in this area.”  The Scottish Gamekeepers Association also said “Because this appears to be subject of a live investigation, it would not be appropriate to comment other than to reiterate that the Scottish Gamekeepers’ Association does not condone illegal poisoning.”

Here is the link to the article on their website.

Let’s start with their sub-header: “Confidential information about an active police investigation on a grouse moor has again been leaked to the media”. This may well be an active police investigation but in terms of reporting restrictions that is irrelevant. What is important is when the actual criminal case becomes active. Once the criminal case, not the police investigation, becomes active, this then triggers certain reporting restrictions relating to the Contempt of Court Act 1981. Under Scottish law, a criminal case becomes active once an arrest warrant has been issued, or someone has been arrested, or someone has been charged. Thus, in this instance, SL&E’s use of the phrase ‘an active police investigation’ is misleading as it suggests information has been leaked in contempt.

Now let’s look at their first paragraph, and particularly the sentence: “An anonymous website, allegedly with close links to the animal rights movement, found out confidential information that Government science laboratory analysis of the items had tested positive for carbofuran and published this confidential information, resulting in media coverage on 11th June”. They don’t name the ‘anonymous website’, but as we were the only anonymous website to publish the original article then we have to assume they are referring to us. In which case, we would like to know the basis of their claim that we allegedly have close links to the animal rights movement. In our view this is a crudely attempted slur on our credibility. The stereotypical image of the animal rights movement as portrayed in the media has traditionally focused on the illegal activities of those involved in campaigns against animal testing laboratories – the image of a black-clothed, balaclava-wearing extremist intent on breaking the law by fire-bombing business premises, vehicles and homes or digging up human remains, all in the name of ‘defending the rights of animals’, immediately springs to mind. Is that the image that Scottish Land & Estates are trying to attribute to us? If it is, it looks like they have scored another own goal. We would argue that that stereotype is no longer valid – look at the thousands of people who recently protested in London against the badger cull. They could legitimately be portrayed as being members of the animal rights movement and yet that crowd included serving Members of Parliament and even QCs. Law-breaking terrorists marauding through London causing damage & inciting fear, or concerned professionals legitimately and peacefully exercising their right to protest? We wholeheartedly support the lawful badger cull protesters and if that defines us as having ‘close links to the animal rights movement’ then so what? We are happy to have that association, although we’d argue that it doesn’t amount to anything like ‘close links’. But if SL&E are trying to suggest that we are ‘closely linked’ with criminal activities then that is a much more serious allegation that our lawyers would be most interested in examining.

Sticking with their first paragraph, let’s move on to their claim that we published “confidential information” (about the Carbofuran) “resulting in media coverage on 11th June”. This is utter bollocks. We deliberately did not name the type of poison that had been used to lace the poisoned baits in our original article. SL&E should try reading our article again and pay closer attention this time. Carbofuran was actually first mentioned in the BBC’s article, which was published several hours after ours on 10th June, and which we added as an update to our original article later that evening. We’ll be happy to accept an apology from Scottish Land & Estates in relation to their false allegation against us.

But so what if we had mentioned Carbofuran? This isn’t ‘confidential information’ – look at the quarterly poisoning stats published by SASA – they always name the poison(s) they’ve detected in the course of on-going police investigations, and quite rightly so; this is a matter of massive public interest. Look at any other area of crime involving banned substances – the police always publish the name of the banned substances that they’ve seized, e.g heroin, cocaine etc. As an example, here is a news item from just yesterday detailing the seizure of cannabis and the name of the premises where it was reportedly found. This type of reporting is very, very common – if you don’t believe us just take a look at Police Scotland’s website and look at the frequency with which these seizure stories appear. Funny isn’t it, that those investigations are publicised within a matter of days and yet those news reports don’t prejudice the outcome of any subsequent criminal case, do they? So why should the reporting of alleged raptor persecution investigations be treated any differently?

Moving on to their second paragraph and the following sentence: “However, little is known about the detail of this case and it is vital that nothing is done or said which might risk prejudicing the legal process or cause unjustifiable damage to the reputations of anyone connected to the estate”. Little is known about the detail of this case precisely because of our restraint in the publication of details! Check out the first sentence of paragraph three in our article:

“Because this is an on-going police investigation there is only limited detail that we’re prepared to publish at this stage”.

Are those the words of people intent on prejudicing the legal process? No, they’re not. They’re the words of responsible bloggers who could easily have published a mass of detail, such as the number of poisoned baits found, the specific site location, the way the baits were stored, the specifics of the meat used, and the name of the poison used to lace the baits. We could even have posted photographs from the scene. We deliberately didn’t include any of this material evidence in our article.

Their last sentence in paragraph two reads: “Questions certainly need to be asked about the leaking and publication of material information about the case while this is still under active police investigation”. Questions certainly do need to be asked, but not about the leaking and publication of material information, for all the reasons we’ve stated above. No, other more relevant questions need to be asked, such as:

  • Why didn’t Police Scotland publicise this inquiry when it first started three months ago?
  • What relationship does Scottish Land & Estates have with Leadhills Estate, i.e. is Leadhills (Hopetoun) Estate a member of SL&E and if so, will SL&E be temporarily suspending that membership pending the outcome of the police investigation?
  • Should Scottish Land & Estates be allowed to continue to participate on the PAW Scotland Raptor Persecution Priority Delivery Group without this level of transparency?

SL&E also published a further article two days ago, relating to media coverage (here & here) of the alleged felling of the white-tailed eagle nest tree on Invermark Estate. Read their article here. In this article, SL&E state that the estate has been ‘fully cooperating’ with the police inquiry. You wouldn’t expect anything else from a law-abiding estate. Hopefully that ‘full cooperation’ includes full and complete witness statements from everyone involved with the Estate from the top down. Anything less, such as ‘no comment’ interviews would not, in our opinion, be in the spirit of what we’d call ‘full cooperation’, even though such responses are entirely legal.

Also in this article, SL&E argue that it was inappropriate for information about the case to be released before the outcome is known. This sounds like a philosophy whereby there should be a blanket media ban on publishing any information relating to alleged raptor persecution incidents until the outcome of the police case is known. That would probably suit the game-shooting industry down to the ground: if this ridiculous philosophy was in place, none of us would be any the wiser to the hundreds of illegally-killed raptors found on shooting estates over the last 25+ years because the majority of these cases have not resulted in charges being brought and are, therefore, still technically considered to be ‘on-going’ police investigations. To put it in a broader context, if the philosophy was given a wider application we wouldn’t know anything of, for example, Operation Yewtree or the recent Woolwich murder.

Scottish Land & Estates would do well to put their influence to better use and focus their efforts on ousting the criminal element from within the game-shooting industry instead of wasting time promoting censorship of responsible reports on matters of legitimate public interest.

Significant haul of poisoned baits found on Leadhills Estate

leadhills estateA significant haul of pre-prepared poisoned meat baits has been found on Leadhills Estate, South Lanarkshire. And when we say significant, that’s what we mean. We’re not talking about one or two baits here; we’re talking a considerable number that, if used, would have been part of a comprehensive poisoning campaign.

The poisoned baits were discovered on 8th March 2013. Yes, that’s right, over three months ago. We’ve waited patiently for Police Scotland or NWCU or PAW Scotland to issue a press release about this, but, true to form, they’ve remained silent. During this period they even launched the 2012 poisoning maps, making much of what they called a ‘sharp fall’ in the number of poisoning incidents, even though they were well aware of what had just been uncovered at Leadhills Estate.

Because this is an on-going police investigation there is only limited detail that we’re prepared to publish at this stage. However, in due course, the full story will emerge. It’s worth keeping an eye on a forthcoming website (http://projectraptor.org.uk/) where photographs and film footage will probably appear.

This incident raises many of the usual concerns. Firstly, why has it been kept covered up? Why didn’t Police Scotland (“Keeping People Safe,” according to their website) issue a public safety warning about the discovery of these highly toxic poisoned meat baits that have the potential to kill anyone coming into contact with them? Many people, not just local residents but tourists too, visit the moors around Leadhills for recreational pursuits. Why were they not informed about the risks? That’s not ‘Keeping People Safe’ by any stretch of imagination.

Secondly, why are Police Scotland still making the same fundamental errors that they were making ten years ago in investigations of this type? They sent two marked police vehicles to collect the evidence – thus alerting the would-be poisoners that their stash had been discovered and allowing them an opportunity to hide any other incriminating evidence. This is basic stuff! Did they conduct a search of the surrounding moorland to see if any baits had already been placed? You probably can guess the answer to that.

Why didn’t they attend the scene covertly and install hidden cameras at the site where the poisoned baits were discovered? We all know that without evidence linking a specific person to the baits, a conviction would be virtually impossible to secure. So why not use cameras to film the person(s) coming to the poison storage site and either picking up the baits or replenishing the stash with new baits?

Nobody will be surprised to learn that Leadhills Estate is once again at the centre of another wildlife crime investigation; the latest in a long list dating back at least a decade. The following incidents are known, confirmed persecution incidents (data from RSPB Scotland & Scottish Government) from 2003-2011 (2012 & 2013 data not yet published). This list does not include ‘probable’ or ‘possible’ incidents such as the discovery of buried decomposing carcasses too decayed for analysis:

2003 April: hen harrier shot

2003 April: hen harrier eggs destroyed

2004 May: buzzard shot

2004 May: short-eared owl shot

2004 June: buzzard poisoned (Carbofuran)

2004 June: 4 x poisoned rabbit baits (Carbofuran)

2004 June: crow poisoned (Carbofuran)

2004 July: poisoned rabbit bait (Carbofuran)

2004 July: poisoned rabbit bait (Carbofuran)

2005 February: poisoned rabbit bait (Carbofuran)

2005 April: poisoned buzzard (Carbofuran)

2005 June: poisoned rabbit bait (Carbofuran)

2005 June: poisoned rabbit bait (Carbofuran)

2006 February: poisoned buzzard (Carbofuran)

2006 March: poisoned buzzard (Carbofuran)

2006 March: poisoned pigeon bait (Carbofuran)

2006 April: dead buzzard (persecution method unknown)

2006 May: poisoned rabbit bait (Carbofuran)

2006 May: poisoned rabbit bait (Carbofuran)

2006 May: poisoned egg baits (Carbofuran)

2006 June: poisoned buzzard (Carbofuran)

2006 June: poisoned raven (Carbofuran)

2006 June: 6 x poisoned rabbit baits (Carbofuran)

2006 June: poisoned egg bait (Carbofuran)

2006 September: 5 x poisoned buzzards (Carbofuran)

2006 September: poisoned rabbit bait (Carbofuran)

2006 September: poisoned rabbit bait (Carbofuran)

2007 March: poisoned buzzard (Carbofuran)

2007 April: poisoned red kite (Carbofuran)

2007 May: poisoned buzzard (Carbofuran)

2008 October: poisoned buzzard (Carbofuran) [listed as ‘Nr Leadhills’]

2008 October: poisoned rabbit bait (Carbofuran) [listed as ‘Nr Leadhills’]

2008 November: 3 x poisoned ravens (Carbofuran) [listed as ‘Nr Leadhills’]

2009 March: poisoned rabbit bait (Carbofuran)

2009 March: poisoned raven (Carbofuran)

2009 April: poisoned rabbit bait (Carbofuran)

2009 April: poisoned magpie (Carbofuran)

2009 April: poisoned raven (Carbofuran)

2010 October: short-eared owl shot

2011 March: illegally-set clam trap

2011 December: buzzard shot

2012 October: golden eagle shot (just over boundary with Buccleuch Estate)

The evidence is clear. Poisoning is taking place with virtually total impunity (some would say immunity) on this estate. As far as we can tell, there has only been one successful prosecution for poisoning – a gamekeeper convicted in 2010 for laying out a poisoned rabbit bait (see here).

So why is it that the poisoners, whoever they may be, can keep getting away with it?

Is Leadhills Estate (part of the Hopetoun Estates) a member of the landowners’ organisation, Scottish Land & Estates (SLE)? The Chairman of Hopetoun Estates, the Earl of Hopetoun, is a Director of SLE. If Leadhills Estate is a member, then all of SLE’s talk about condemning illegal raptor persecution and stamping it out is utter hypocrisy. The question of whether Leadhills Estate is an SLE member is one that needs to be raised by the members of the Partnership for Action Against Wildlife Crime (Scotland). SLE plays a prominent role in PAW Scotland and earns considerable kudos for that role (kudos that the organisation is not afraid to use for PR purposes). It is now high time that SLE is asked to provide some transparency about its relationship with Leadhills Estate.

We’d also like to ask Environment Minister Paul Wheelhouse what action he intends to take in light of the latest discovery of poisoned baits at Leadhills Estate? He may well try and dodge the question by saying ‘It’s an on-going police investigation so I can’t comment’. But we’re not asking him to comment on the actual investigation – what we’re asking is whether he’ll keep his earlier promises about introducing new measures to combat raptor persecution if evidence comes to light to demonstrate it is still a problem. Well Paul, here’s your filthy evidence. Now what are you going to do about it? Emails to: ministerforenvironment@scotland.gsi.gov.uk

UPDATE 18.45hrs: BBC journalist David Miller has just posted an article on this incident on the BBC News website (great to see another high profile journalist willing to discuss illegal raptor persecution). You can read his article here.

The article contains the following hilarious quotes:

From Police Scotland: “Police officers, including a wildlife crime liaison officer, were dispatched to the area the same day and following an extensive search, items were found and seized. A number of people were detained by police in connection with this inquiry, which is currently ongoing“.

Hmm, an ‘extensive search’, eh? That’s not what we’d heard!

From Scottish Land and Estates: “It would be inappropriate to comment while the facts of the matter have still to be established. As an organisation, we are actively involved in the Partnership for Action Against Wildlife Crime and our membership undertakes an enormous amount of positive work in this area“.

Er, the facts of the matter have been established. A significant haul of pre-prepared meat baits were found stashed on this estate and government scientists have confirmed the presence of Carbofuran.

Wouldn’t it be ‘inappropriate’ for SLE to remain in the government-led PAW Scotland group, and in the government-led Scottish Raptor Persecution Priority Delivery Group, if it was found that Leadhills Estate was a member of their organisation? Come on PAW Scotland members and SRPPDG members, ask them the bloody question!

From Scottish Gamekeepers’ Association: “Because this appears to be subject of a live investigation, it would not be appropriate to comment other than to reiterate that the Scottish Gamekeepers’ Association does not condone illegal poisoning“.

Perhaps they’ll consider conducting their own investigation again, just as they did with the Deeside eagle case, and let us know what really happened….my money’s on the real culprits being either badgers, buzzards, sparrowhawks, pine martens or goshawks.

 

Buzzard euthanised after caught in illegal leg-hold trap

More than nine weeks ago, a buzzard was caught in an illegal leg-hold trap. According to local sources this happened on land part-managed for gamebird shooting in central Scotland. The buzzard’s injuries were such that it had to be euthanised.

Police Scotland have still not informed the public about this incident. Why not?

It happened in March, before the Easter Bank Holiday. They’ve had almost ten weeks to inform the public. In whose interest is it to keep this incident a dirty little secret?

We’ve blogged about this a million times before. They don’t have to give away details that might compromise an investigation – all they need to say is that an illegally trapped buzzard has been discovered, it didn’t survive its injuries, and a police investigation is underway. It’s really that simple. Here’s a recent example:

Police Wildlife Crime Officers in Devon & Cornwall Police blogged on 27th May 2013 that two dead buzzards, found in suspicious circumstances, had been reported to them that day. A couple of days later they provided an update to say the birds had been retrieved and had been sent off for toxicology analysis.

Here’s another example:

On 22nd May 2013, Gwent Police appealed for information after a shot peregrine falcon had to be euthanised. The shooting had been reported to the police only two days previously, on 20th May 2013 (see here).

Here’s another example:

On 6th April 2013, Norfolk Constabulary issued a press statement to say that a man had been arrested on suspicion of a number of wildlife crime offences after the discovery of over a dozen dead birds of prey. He had been arrested just two days earlier on 4th April 2013 (see here). [Incidentally, this man’s bail expired on 22nd May and we’re waiting to hear the latest development in this case].

So you see it’s quite possible for police forces to release information in a timely manner when they want to. It’s not as though the public aren’t interested in buzzard conservation in Scotland – a recent petition urging the Scottish Government not to licence a buzzard cull has now reached over 20,000 signatures in about a week (see here and please sign it if you haven’t already done so).

 We’ll repeat the question posed earlier: in whose interest is it for Police Scotland to remain silent about this illegally-trapped buzzard?