Category: News

Senior police officer required to chair Raptor Persecution Priority Delivery Group (RPPDG)

The National Wildlife Crime Unit (NWCU) is recruiting for a senior police officer to Chair the Raptor Persecution Priority Delivery Group (RPPDG).

This is a poisoned chalice if ever there was one.

There are Priority Delivery Groups for the various National Wildlife Crime Priorities (e.g. raptor persecution, badger persecution, bat persecution, CITES, Freshwater pearl mussels, cyber-enabled wildlife crime and poaching) and the purpose of these delivery groups is ‘to progress the priority in relation to prevention, intelligence and enforcement’ (see here).

Some of these delivery groups are being quite effective – and that’s probably because all the members of the group share the same objective. For example, the badger persecution delivery group probably doesn’t have badger baiters sitting around the table ‘contributing’ to discussions about enforcement plans. And I’ll bet the CITES group doesn’t have international ivory traffickers in its membership, nor hare coursers in the poaching group.

But the raptor persecution group? Well, along with the likes of the RSPB and the Northern England Raptor Forum, the membership of this group also includes organisations like the Moorland Association, Countryside Alliance, BASC and the National Gamekeepers, some of whose members have been/are still under police investigation for alleged raptor persecution crimes. There are clear conflicts of interest and they don’t all share the same objective, no matter how hard some of the groups might pretend.

The RPPDG is, in my opinion, a partnership sham, designed to look as though efforts are being made to effectively tackle illegal raptor persecution in England and Wales. It’s been in existence since 2011 and the ‘delivery’ results speak for themselves – so far it has achieved absolutely sod all in terms of contributing towards the conservation of raptors in the UK and instead has frustrated the efforts of those organisations who are genuinely trying to stamp out persecution (e.g. see here).

Whoever takes on this role needs to be up for change. And that’s presumably why the NWCU is seeking a high-ranking officer for the position (Chief Inspector or Superintendent level). These groups need to be held to account and when they don’t deliver, or when they deliberately obstruct progress, they should be booted out.

Good luck to whoever gets the post.

Environmental groups urge Govt to extend ban on moorland burning

At the end of January, DEFRA published a long-awaited statement on its proposal to ban burning on moorland (see here), although the proposal was heavily criticised as not going far enough and analysis by Guy Shrubsole demonstrated that many grouse moors would be exempt from the ban (see here).

[Photo by Tim Melling]

Today, the heads of 18 environmental groups have signed a letter to DEFRA Secretary of State George Eustice, urging him to extend the ban to make it more meaningful:

There is good coverage of this in today’s iNews (here) where a DEFRA spokesperson said the Government will set out further actions on England’s peatlands later this year.

Wild Justice testing Sainsbury’s gamebird meat for toxic lead ammunition

Last October Sainsbury’s started to sell gamebirds from a supplier in North Yorkshire, but has repeatedly refused to address customers’ concerns about the provenance of those pheasants and partridges, i.e. on which estates were they shot and what are those estates’ environmental credentials?

Sainsbury’s also claims, apparently without testing, that the gamebird meat it’s selling does not contain toxic lead ammunition (see previous blogs here, here and here).

[Photos by Dr Rob Sheldon]

Since then others have continued to press Sainsbury’s for information about whether these products contain poisonous lead ammunition but Sainsbury’s has continued to dodge the questions, instead directing customers to its supplier in North Yorkshire, who so far has ignored all requests for information (e.g. see Rob Sheldon’s blog here).

Wild Justice has lost patience with Sainsbury’s and is paying to have the products independently tested at a specialist laboratory. The results may show that this gamebird meat does not contain toxic lead ammunition, in which case great! At least everyone will know with certainty and transparency, instead of having to reply upon the crossing of fingers and hoping for the best.

For more details, please visit the Wild Justice blog here

Scottish Government bemused by gamekeepers’ planned protest

Last November, the Scottish Government finally reached the end of its tether with the criminality and environmental damage associated with driven grouse shooting and announced its intention to bring in a licensing scheme for grouse shooting estates (see here).

In response, the Scottish Gamekeepers Association (SGA) went in to an enraged meltdown and announced its members would hold a protest (or at least localised protests as Covid restrictions prevented a gathering at Holyrood), although it wasn’t clear what, exactly, they would be protesting about – they just seemed furious about the idea of a scheme that would mean a licence could be withdrawn if criminal activities were detected – (see here).

Since we’re all in another period of lockdown, even localised protests are out of the question and so now the SGA is planning an online protest instead. An article in yesterday’s Sunday Times revealed more details:

The online protest is set for 19th March 2021 and it seems the SGA is trying to drum up support from various industries, to come under the banner of a ‘Rural Workers’ Protest’. Look out for the hashtag #RWP21 on social media.

According to this article, the reasons for protesting include what the SGA calls ‘anti-rural measures pursued by the SNP and the Green Party’, and claims that the sector ‘has not had a fair deal from this parliament’.

Interestingly, amongst all the reasons given by the SGA for wanting to protest, grouse moor licensing does not feature explicitly in this article. The nearest the SGA gets is to complain about the Government’s alleged ‘unwillingness to manage or address predation’ and ‘curbs on muirburn’.

In response, the Scottish Government is reported to have said that it ‘did not recognise the claims being made’. In addition, Mark Ruskell MSP from the Scottish Greens said:

“Many more rural jobs could be created if we banned the cruel practice of grouse shooting and used the land in other ways, to restore our forests and peatlands to tackle the climate emergency“.

Scottish grouse moor owners want options for ‘managing too many birds of prey’

According to Tim (Kim) Baynes, Director of landowners’ lobby group Scottish Land & Estates, there is “very little evidence” of ongoing raptor persecution in Scotland.

It’s a bare-faced denial that Baynes and his grouse shooting pals have been making for years e.g. see here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here and here in the face of overwhelming evidence to the contrary. Deny everything, carry on and hope that nobody checks the actual facts, eh?

This most recent denial came in a podcast for Living Planet, a programme on the German International English Language Service, of all places! The seven minute programme also features Ian Thomson (RSPB Scotland) and Logan Steele (Scottish Raptor Study Group) talking about satellite-tagged golden eagles that suddenly ‘vanish’ from Scottish grouse moors and how last year the tag of one of those missing eagles was found with cut straps, wrapped in lead sheeting (to block the tag’s signal) and dumped in a river (see here); a clear indication of the lengths the eagle-killers will go to cover up their crimes.

As well as denying the extent of ongoing raptor persecution, Baynes was asked about grouse moor licensing, due to be introduced by the Scottish Government because, er, last year Ministers accepted the indisputable evidence of ongoing raptor persecution on some driven grouse moors.

Here’s what he said:

“There needs to be a balanced approach to it, so if you have too many birds of prey there has to be some mechanism for managing them, to keep them in balance with the prey species. And that’s what we’re asking Government to address“.

Now, some might argue that this is not anything we need worry about because the probability of having “too many” (whatever that means) birds of prey on some driven grouse moors seems quite unlikely given the long-term absence of breeding species like hen harrier, golden eagle and peregrine on many of these moors, as a direct result of on-going persecution.

However, having seen how DEFRA and Natural England define a ‘high density’ population (two hen harrier nests within 10km of one another!) for the purposes of the insane hen harrier brood meddling trial, and knowing that Scottish Land & Estates has expressed an interest in having a hen harrier brood meddling scheme in Scotland (more on that shortly), we should all be alert to the very high probability that grouse shooting reps will be lobbying the Scottish Government hard when consultations open for views on what the grouse moor licensing scheme should look like.

To listen to the short podcast click here

Some blogs of interest (3)

Some more blogs that you might find of interest:

Parkswatch Scotland: A stinking hole near the heart of the Cairngorms National Park (here)

Rob Sheldon: Sainsbury’s, obfuscation and toxic lead: Day 74 (here)

League Against Cruel Sports: Director of MFHA charged over webinar (here)

Mark Avery: No peregrines taken for ‘falconry’ this year – NE say (here)

Birds of Poole Harbour: Rutland and Poole: two of a kind (here)

Vulture Conservation Foundation: Bolivia has 35 less Andean Condors following suspected mass poisoning incident (here)

Rob Sheldon: Pheasants and parakeets: compare and contrast (here)

BirdGuides: Isle of Wight eagle heads home after 17-month adventure (here)

Wild Justice: We write to DEFRA on their consultation failure (here)

Wild Justice’s 2nd birthday!

Wild Justice celebrates its second birthday today!

Many thanks to the readers of this blog who have supported WJ – work is already underway on several new projects. Please visit the Wild Justice blog for news of these (see here).

There’s an article about WJ’s second birthday in The Guardian (here)

Informant receives 5,000 euro payout for clue on mass poisoning of buzzards

In December 2019, a total of 23 buzzards were reported to have been illegally poisoned with the banned pesticide Carbofuran in a single incident in Co. Cork, Ireland.

This news wasn’t made public until May 2020 when the Irish Raptor Study Group partnered with Birdwatch Ireland to issue a joint statement criticising the lack of enforcement measures to deal with the continued illegal persecution of birds of prey (see here).

This shocking mass poisoning crime prompted calls in the Irish parliament for an investigation (see here) and calls for the establishment of a special police unit to focus on tackling wildlife crime (here).

Later in the year a local animal welfare charity ‘The Amica Projects’ put up a reward of 5,000 Euros for information about who was responsible for poisoning the buzzards and it placed a full page advert in the Southern Star newspaper appealing for whistle blowers to get in touch (see here).

Now six months on, an article by journalist Kieran O’Mahony published in the Southern Star yesterday says that The Amica Projects has now confirmed it has paid the 5K Euros reward for a tip-off that it had received.

From the article:

“We are delighted to report that a number of people came forward with information about this and actually some other cases too,’ said a spokesperson.

Some of these reports were highly specific and highly credible and we’ve passed the most useful and relevant to the gardaí [the police] and to the National Parks and Wildlife Service, who are responsible for prosecutions of this type“.

According to The Amica Projects – which was founded in 2019 and addresses animal welfare problems in Ireland – both entities shared the view that the information was credible and actionable.

“This was a senseless attack on the buzzards, which are fully protected in Ireland under the EU Birds Directive, and under the National Wildlife Act of 1976. What’s more, the poison carbofuran has been banned in Ireland for over a decade and even the possession of the poison is an offence.”

The charity also said that it is entirely prepared to repeat the reward initiative should the need arise.

“This should serve as notice to bird-poisoners that they are being observed, and that most of the general public finds their actions abhorrent. No poisoner is safe and the penalties are significant“.

ENDS

Final call for job applicants at Langholm Moor’s new nature reserve

The Langholm Initiative (the organisation behind the successful community buy-out at Langholm Moor) is reminding job applicants that the deadline is looming for the recruitment of two managers to take the lead on transforming the old grouse moor in to the new Tarras Valley Nature Reserve.

This is a fantastic opportunity to be part of creating a new nature reserve with ecological restoration and the community at its heart. Closing date: Friday 19th February 2021.

Find out more at www.langholminitiative.org.uk/vacancies

Gamekeepers lead disgusting hate campaign against conservationists (1)

WARNING: For those of a sensitive disposition this post will contain examples of grossly offensive material so if you’re likely to get upset by reading it I’d suggest you don’t go any further than this point.

Today’s post is a follow-on from yesterday’s post (With straight faces, gamekeepers complain about abuse) and it’s recommended you read that first to understand the context of what you’re about to read here.

What follows are a number of examples of the obscenities hurled by gamekeepers and others in the game-shooting industry at those of us who campaign for an end to the illegal killing of birds of prey on game-shooting estates and for strict environmental regulation of the UK game-shooting industry.

There’s so much material it’s going to take a number of blogs to publish just a simple overview to demonstrate the extent and type of abuse we receive. So today’s blog will focus on the abuse I’ve received – future blogs will focus on the abuse my colleagues and others have received.

I don’t write this as a casual observer / commentator. I write it as someone who has been at the receiving end of a targeted smear campaign of hatred for approximately six years.

I am subjected to a volume of online personal abuse pretty much on a daily basis; it’s routinely misogynistic and usually along the lines of being a nasty / ugly / fat / evil / poisonous / vile / lying / bitter / miserable / bigoted / dirty / rabid / lesbian / bitch / whore (take your pick of these or add any other offensive adjective of your choice).

I’ve been accused of being a ‘deranged whore’ and an ‘animal rights extremist’.

I’ve been accused of sleeping with Dr Mark Avery, Chris Packham, First Minister Nicola Sturgeon, RSPB Investigator Ian Thomson, Cabinet Secretary Roseanna Cunningham, Professor Ian Newton, Chief Inspector Lou Hubble and Andy Wightman MSP.

My personal telephone number has been published and folk have been incited to make abusive phone calls.

I have received abusive text messages.

My home address has been published and shared on social media. Photographs of my home have been published and shared on social media.

I have been followed and photographed on grouse moors and these have been published on social media with accompanying defamatory comment.

I have been accused of fabricating evidence, of perverting the course of justice, of inflicting cruelty to wildlife, of killing eagles, of planting evidence, and conversely (and bizarrely) of withholding evidence from the police, of lying to the police, of lying to Ministers, of lying to supporters, of lying in general…….I think you get the picture.

I don’t often talk about this stuff because frankly it’s not good for my mental health but I have documented the evidence, systematically and meticulously, for over six years and now some of that evidence is being used to support a number of ongoing investigations in to harassment, stalking and offences under the Malicious Communications Act.

Now, I’m not for one minute going to claim that I’ve never ridiculed anyone. Of course I have, many a time, probably just like many people reading this blog will have done. And I intend to continue – humour and mild ridicule are powerful tools for challenging all sorts of people and policies and besides, it helps me to deal with the daily onslaught. However, there is a line that I don’t cross and I certainly don’t support libellous or grossly offensive commentary about anyone, which is evidenced by the strict editorial policy on this blog.

To be clear, I’m not posting about online abuse to elicit any kind of response – I don’t need tea & sympathy, I have a fantastic support system in place and a world-class mental health coach – I’m posting this stuff simply to counter the ridiculous narrative from the game-shooting industry that they’re all innocent victims.

Awareness about campaigns of abuse will be nothing new to some of this blog’s followers – many of you will no doubt remember the disgraceful abuse suffered by a small local brewery in Lancashire (Bowland Brewery) a few years ago after they posted a photograph of Chris Packham and Mark Avery enjoying a pint of Hen Harrier, a brew developed to help raise funds for the RSPB’s hen harrier conservation work. That particular hate campaign was led by a former gamekeeper in Scotland and involved many other gamekeepers from across the UK (see here).

Ok, so here we go….

EVIDENCED EXAMPLES

This is written by Bert Burnett, a former Director of the Scottish Gamekeepers Association and a current columnist for the SGA’s quarterly rag for members, who over the last 12 months alone has published almost 100 abusive posts targeting me. He also routinely targets my colleagues at Wild Justice, RSPB and the Scottish Raptor Study Group:

The following three are written by people who identify themselves as gamekeepers:

This one from January 2021 documents an example of casual misogyny by Duncan Thomas, BASC’s Director of Northern England, no less! I hope he doesn’t have any direct supervisory capacity of any females at BASC.

I wonder if misogynistic abuse is BASC policy? I’m sure it isn’t. Perhaps I’ll write and ask.

As a co-director of Wild Justice I am also at the receiving end of some pretty gross and offensive abuse. Since we launched our not-for-profit company two years ago it’s provided another avenue for gamekeepers and their supporters within the game shooting industry to publish obscene comments about the three of us. We’ve written before about some of the abuse we’ve received (see here but beware, it’s particularly unpleasant).

Here are some more examples:

On that note, I think that’s probably enough for today.

I will be writing more on this subject shortly.

UPDATE 19th February 2021: Gamekeepers lead disgusting hate campaign against conservationists (2) (here)

UPDATE 17th March 2021: BASC Director Duncan Thomas apologises for misogynistic abuse (here)

UPDATE 18th July 2021: Organised crime, harassment & intimidation – another day on the grouse moors (guest blog) (here)