Category: News

Red kite shot on Lochindorb Estate: Police Scotland issue appeal for information

A member of the public witnessed the shooting of a red kite on the Lochindorb Estate yesterday morning. It was recovered by the Scottish SPCA but unfortunately its injuries were so severe it had to be euthanised.

Police Scotland has issued the following appeal for information:

APPEAL FOLLOWING BIRD OF PREY SHOT NEAR GRANTOWN-ON-SPEY

Officers are appealing for information after a protected bird of prey was shot near Grantown-on-Spey.

We received a report of a red kite being shot around 11.15am on Monday, 27 March, on the Lochindorb Estate, Grantown-on-Spey.

It was recovered with the assistance of the Scottish Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SSPCA) but had to be euthanized as its injuries were not recoverable.

Community Police Inspector Craig Johnstone said: “The red kite is a protected species and under the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 it is illegal to kill them.

“I am asking anyone in the local community who may be able to help with our enquiries to come forward. If you were walking in the area on Monday then please let us know if you saw anything.

“In particular, if you saw quad bikes in the area or off road vehicles, then get in touch as even the smallest bit of information could assist with our investigation.”

Anyone with information is asked to contact Police Scotland on 101, quoting incident number 1760 of Monday, 27 March, or make a call anonymously to the charity Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.

ENDS

I applaud this very fast public appeal for information by Police Scotland. It’s in stark contrast to their 19-month silence about a poisoned red kite that was found in the same region in 2021 (see here) and for which they received much deserved criticism.

All credit to them for responding so quickly this time and for naming the estate on which the shooting was witnessed. Bravo.

UPDATE 29th March 2023: Game-shooting industry’s response to news that red kite was shot on grouse moor (Lochindorb Estate) here

UPDATE 1st April 2023: Arrest made in relation to red kite shooting on Lochindorb Estate grouse moor (here)

Suffolk Police arrest a man in connection with five shot goshawks found in Kings Forest in January

Suffolk Police have arrested a man in connection with their ongoing investigation into the illegal shooting of five juvenile goshawks that were found dumped in a car park next to Kings Forest near Thetford in January.

The 70-year-old man from the Brandon area was arrested yesterday on suspicion of killing/taking a schedule 1 wild bird, possession of a schedule one wild bird and breach of firearms licence conditions.

He was taken to Bury St Edmunds Police Investigation Centre for questioning and subsequently released under investigation, pending further enquiries.

Let’s hope the police investigation leads to someone being charged and convicted. There’s currently a £16K+ reward available to anyone who provides information leading to a successful prosecution. The reward fund comprises £5K from the RSPB (here), £5K from Wild Justice (here), and £6K+ from a crowd funder set up by Rare Bird Alert (here).

Here’s a press statement from Suffolk Police, published yesterday afternoon:

Man released in connection with bird shooting – Wordwell

A man arrested in connection with the shooting of five birds in Wordwell near to Bury St Edmunds has been released under investigation.

The male in his 70s and from the Brandon area was arrested yesterday (Monday 27 March) on suspicion of killing/taking a schedule 1 wild bird, possession of a schedule one wild bird and breach of firearms licence conditions.

The five birds of prey were found on Monday 16 January, having been left in a parking area just off from the B1106 in Kings Forest, near Wordwell. X-rays were undertaken which showed all five birds had suffered injuries from multiple pieces of shot.

Officers from Suffolk’s Rural and Wildlife Policing Team were assisted by Norfolk police colleagues, as well as officers from the RSPB Investigations team and the National Wildlife Crime Unit.  

The man was taken to Bury St Edmunds Police Investigation Centre for questioning and subsequently released under investigation, pending further enquiries.

All birds of prey are protected by law, and to kill or injure one could result in jail and/or an unlimited fine.

ENDS

UPDATE 7th June 2023: Man charged in relation to 5 shot goshawks found dumped in a forest carpark in January (here)

Fieldsports Channel Ltd displays images of Chris Packham’s head on ‘trophy’ wall at national gun show

On Friday I wrote about how wildlife TV presenter and conservationist Chris Packham CBE is taking legal action against Fieldsports Channel Ltd (FCL) and one of their journalists after they published what Chris’s lawyers describe as ‘defamatory and unfounded’ material about him last year (see here).

A letter of claim from Chris’s legal team was sent to Fieldsports Channel Ltd on 20th January 2023 – this isn’t privileged information- it’s known because FCL decided to publish the legal correspondence online for anyone to read.

A few weeks after legal proceedings began, FCL attended the Great British Shooting Show at the NEC in Birmingham on 17-19 February 2023. This show has been described as ‘The UK’s largest shooting show‘ and it’s where thousands of visitors can see ‘a vast range of shotguns, rifles, pistols, air rifles, optics, including specialised night vision & thermal imaging devices…‘ etc. FCL, along with many other traders, had a stand.

Here is a photo of how Fieldsports Channel Ltd chose to decorate their stand at this national gun show. It’s a mocked up ‘trophy room’ where various distorted images of Chris’s head were displayed as trophy mounts, presumably to resemble souvenirs of a kill:

Screen grab from Fieldsports Channel’s Facebook page

If this isn’t tantamount to inciting hatred, I don’t know what is. I can’t envisage how any reasonable person would see it as anything else.

Not only did FCL have a mocked up ‘trophy room’ on their stand, they also had a large arrow sign suspended from the ceiling encouraging their visitors to ‘Poke Packham Here‘. Poke him with what? The barrel of a shotgun??

Screen grab of the FCL stand at the Great British Shooting Show from a YouTube video

I imagine that most attendees at a national gun show are law-abiding people with a professional or personal interest in firearms and shotguns. But it only takes one person suffering from mental health issues with legitimate (certified) access to firearms/shotguns to wreak havoc, often with tragic consequences. We’ve seen dreadful evidence of this recently after gun rampages in Plymouth, Epsom, and on the Isle of Skye, committed by individuals who the police considered fit to hold firearms / shotgun certificates.

But anyone already predisposed to hating Chris and wanting to cause him harm (and let’s face it, there is plenty of evidence that these people do exist within the fieldsports community), might well be emboldened by this ‘trophy wall’ and the sign encouraging aggression towards Chris, and decide to do the unthinkable. Those in the fieldsports community have legitimate and easy access to guns.

For Christ’s sake, he’s already received death threats, of which FCL is well aware given they’re being sued in relation to their publication about one of them. He also suffered a terrifying arson attack at his home in October 2021.

How bloody irresponsible are these people, and that goes for the show organisers, too, who presumably permitted this disgraceful display?

The threat of violence to Chris is very, very real. Charlie Jacoby of Fieldsports Channel Ltd knows this, as it was the reason why Chris (and Mark Avery) were ‘uninvited’ from speaking with Jacoby at the Game Fair in 2019:

Yesterday evening Chris published a video on Twitter about online abuse. In the video, Chris says this:

“The level of perceived threat to myself and my family is now palpable. I sometimes leave or return to my home, wondering if someone will be there waiting. Someone so excited by these accusations that they feel motivated to extreme violence. That’s where I’m at”.

Chris’s address was posted online at the weekend (now removed) by a contributor to the Fieldsports Channel Ltd Facebook page.

Here is the video in full:

I’ve set up a crowd funder to help Chris defend his reputation and clear his name against the ‘defamatory and unfounded’ allegations made by Fieldsports Channel Ltd, and others. The response has been incredible, with hundreds of decent people standing in solidarity with him. If you’d like to contribute, please click here.

As I said on Friday’s blog, making defamatory or even derogatory remarks about the defendants in these libel actions is unhelpful and actually counter-productive as they could undermine Chris’s cases. Comments on this blog will be closely moderated (more so than usual!). Far better to show your support for Chris by participating with the crowd funder.

Thank you.

Chris Packham is taking libel action against Fieldsports Channel Ltd – here’s how you can help

Wildlife broadcaster Chris Packham is taking libel action against Fieldsports Channel Ltd and one of its journalists after material was published online last year accusing Chris of faking his own death threat letter. Chris’s lawyers have described the allegation as ‘defamatory and unfounded’.

This is a separate libel action to the one Chris is already pursuing against the editor and authors of a number of articles published by Country Squire Magazine between 2020 and 2021 – details of that case can be found here. The case will be heard in the Royal Courts of Justice in May 2023.

As some of you will be aware, for many years Chris has been the victim of a relentless, malicious hate campaign by those who oppose his views and his campaign work on wildlife conservation and animal welfare issues. This has included vile personal abuse of him (and his family and colleagues) on social media (e.g. here), having dead animals strung up outside his house (see here and here), dead animals dumped on his drive (see here), death threats and excrement sent through the post (here), and having to deal with repeated calls to be sacked by the BBC (e.g. here). In 2021, a terrifying arson attack at his home caused considerable damage to his property (see here). Thankfully nobody was hurt.

It has to stop and those who write and publish defamatory material have to understand there are consequences to their actions.

This morning I’ve launched a crowd funder to help cover the cost of Chris’s libel action against Fieldsports Channel Ltd. So far, Chris has covered his own costs in the Country Squire Magazine case but defamation proceedings are expensive and there is no guarantee that costs and damages will be fully recovered. I consider it a massive injustice that someone who has dedicated as much to wildlife conservation and animal welfare issues as Chris Packham has, should be left out of pocket simply because he’s wanted to protect his reputation against defamatory and unfounded allegations.

More details about the case can be found on the crowd funder page HERE.

If you’re able to make a donation in support of Chris’s libel action, that would be fantastic, thank you. If you’re not able to donate, you can still contribute by sharing the crowd funder amongst your own networks.

Please note: making defamatory or even derogatory remarks about the defendants in these libel actions is unhelpful and actually counter-productive as they could undermine Chris’s cases. Comments on this blog will be closely moderated (more so than usual!). Far better to show your support for Chris by participating with the crowd funder.

Thank you, everyone.

UPDATE 27th March 2023: Fieldsports Channel Ltd displays images of Chris Packham’s head on ‘trophy’ wall at national gun show (here)

UPDATE 10th April 2023: Crowd funder to support Chris Packham’s libel action passes £115K (here)

Game-shooting industry seething at grouse moor licensing bill

Further to this morning’s news (here) that the Scottish Government has introduced its long-promised grouse shooting bill, formally known as the Wildlife Management & Muirburn (Scotland) Bill, the game-shooting industry is seething.

Probably because the penny has finally dropped that the game is up. Despite years of expensive and extensive lobbying, their arguments haven’t been sufficiently persuasive and their posturing hasn’t been sufficiently convincing. As a result, the Scottish Government has produced draft legislation that, if passed, will bring wide-sweeping reforms, none of which the shooting industry wants, nor until this morning, believed would happen.

This is where the fight really starts as that Bill makes its way through the Scottish Parliament.

Here are the furious responses of Scottish Land & Estates, Scottish Gamekeepers Association, BASC, and Countryside Alliance:

Response to grouse shooting Bill from REVIVE, the coalition for grouse moor reform

Further to this morning’s news (here) that the Scottish Government has introduced its long-promised grouse shooting bill, formally known as the Wildlife Management & Muirburn (Scotland) Bill, REVIVE, the coalition for grouse moor reform has published the following press statement in response:

REVIVE coalition urges Parliament to be bold on new wildlife Bill

Scottish Government’s draft Wildlife Management and Muirburn (Scotland) Bill marks biggest intervention in land management for generations

The Scottish Government has today published its draft Wildlife Management and Muirburn (Scotland) Bill. The Bill has been introduced to protect the environment and tackle the persecution of birds of prey. It is expected to significantly change the way in which large areas of Scotland are managed, making it one of the biggest interventions in this area for generations.

Campaign Manager for REVIVE, Max Wiszniewski said: “The proposed Bill is a major intervention in land management that regulates destructive practices through licensing, instead of stopping them.

“Intensively managed grouse moors are unnatural monocultures that are burned and stripped of competing wildlife so more grouse can be shot for sport. By creating a circle of destruction around huge areas of our land, biodiversity and more diverse economic opportunities are missed for Scottish people and communities.

“With a new First Minister on the horizon, as the Bill progresses through Parliament, we hope it will be even bolder and braver to meet the expectations of the Scottish people.”

The Bill follows a review into grouse moor management led by Professor Werritty, the findings of which were published in December 2019. A year later the Scottish Government committed to introduce measures which will hold land managers far more accountable for their activities.

The Bill proposes to strictly regulate the use of muirburn, the controlled burning of vegetation, on peatland as well as ending raptor persecution. It also includes measures to ensure grouse moors are managed sustainably, to ban the use of glue traps for rodents and tighten regulations for the use of other types of wildlife traps.

Robbie Marlsand, Director of the League Against Cruel Sports Scotland, a REVIVE coalition partner added: “When it comes to grouse shooting, this Bill appears well intentioned but kicks a couple of contentious cans down the road. Snares are primitive, cruel and indiscriminate. This Bill should remove them from the Scottish countryside – with no ifs and no buts.

“The impact of this Bill on killing grouse for sport will also depend much on the content of a yet to be written code of conduct that shooting estates must comply with. Only when that is finalised will we be able to appreciate the potential impact of this legislation. For example, hundreds of thousands of animals are killed each year so that there can be more grouse to shoot for fun and it’s not yet known if this Bill will change that.

“Killing any animal for entertainment is repugnant to the majority of people in Scotland. We therefore welcome any incremental steps that will make it more difficult to do.”

ENDS

Breaking news….Scottish Government introduces grouse shoot licencing bill

BREAKING NEWS…..

This morning the Scottish Government has introduced its long-promised grouse shooting bill, formally known as the Wildlife Management & Muirburn (Scotland) Bill.

This draft legislation is a direct result of the game-shooting industry’s failure to stop illegally killing birds of prey on many Scottish grouse moors. That was the trigger, and there are also now other aspects to the Bill that are an attempt to tackle other poorly-regulated aspects of unsustainable grouse moor management.

The Bill contains provisions to:

  • Ban the use and purchase of glue traps and introduce licensing and training requirements for certain other types of wildlife traps;
  • Introduce a licensing regime for land used for the shooting of red grouse;
  • License all muirburn; and
  • Introduce enabling powers to allow the Scottish Ministers to extend the role of inspectors appointed under the Animal Health and Welfare (Scotland) Act 2006 to investigate certain wildlife offences.

As it has only just been published, I haven’t had time to read it properly or analyse its contents. I’ll comment further in due course.

Scottish Government has provided this overview:

Now the Bill has finally been introduced, this is how it will progress through Parliament over the coming months. There will be plenty of opportunity for comment on, and amendments to, this Bill.

Here are the all important documents:

The Bill, as introduced:

bill-as-introducedDownload

Scottish Government’s Explanatory Notes:

explanatory-notesDownload

Scottish Government’s Policy Memorandum (i.e. explaining why the Bill has been created):

policy-memorandumDownload

Even more parliamentary questions about raptor persecution & more predictable paper shuffling from DEFRA

Here are some more parliamentary questions relating to the Westminster Government’s failure to effectively tackle raptor persecution, this time submitted by Ruth Jones MP (Labour, Shadow Minister at DEFRA).

The following four questions were lodged on 1st March 2023:

There’s a fair bit of overlap with these four questions but I’m not going to criticise Ruth Jones for tabling them in this format. On the contrary, I’m delighted to see a Shadow Minister making an effort on this subject and applying pressure on DEFRA.

Is it significant that there’s been a recent flurry of parliamentary questions about raptor persecution? I like to think so.

Ruth Jones’s written questions were answered on 9th March 2023 by Trudy Harrison, the Parliamentary Under Secretary of State in DEFRA, as follows:

This response is predictably lame and amounts to nothing more than paper-shuffling by DEFRA. In fact, I reckon DEFRA has a folder where stock phrases are kept and hauled out each and every time there’s a question about why the Westminster Government is failing so badly when it comes to tackling raptor persecution.

Many of the sentences in Trudy Harrison’s response are pretty much carbon-copies of those given by Environment Minister Rebecca Pow in September 2021 (here), those given by DEFRA Minister Richard Benyon in February 2022 (here), those given by Rebecca Pow in February 2022 (here), those given by Richard Benyon in April 2022 (here), and those given by Trudy Harrison earlier this month (here).

Once more, for the record:

Harrison/DEFRA says: “This government takes wildlife crime seriously“.

Does it? The evidence suggests not.

Harrison/DEFRA says: “We have significant sanctions for crimes against birds of prey in place which include an unlimited fine and/or a six-month custodial sentence“.

Indeed, these sanctions are in place but there has only ever been one custodial sentence handed down to a raptor-killer – and that was in Scotland in 2015 when gamekeeper George Mutch was given a four-month custodial sentence for crimes he committed in 2012 (here). There haven’t been any others since then, and a custodial sentence has never been handed down in England, Wales or Northern Ireland for raptor persecution crime.

Harrison/DEFRA says: “Raptor persecution is a national wildlife crime priority“.

On paper, yes. In reality, no. Raptor persecution was identified as a national wildlife crime priority in 2009. That’s 14 years ago, and hundreds of birds of prey have been illegally killed in the UK since then.

Harrison/DEFRA says: “Defra continues to be fully involved with the police-led national Bird of Prey Crime Priority Delivery Group“.

This so-called Priority Delivery Group has been in place since 2011 and has delivered absolutely nothing of meaningful effect since then, largely due to the fact it is dominated by pro-shooting organisations who have a stranglehold on any progress that could have /should have been made. In my view, it’s a partnership sham, designed to look as though efforts are being made to effectively tackle illegal raptor persecution in England and Wales (see here).

Harrison/DEFRA says: “Natural England continues to work closely with wildlife crime officers“.

Yes, and in recent years NE has been involved with a number of multi-agency raids. Good. However, NE also ‘partners’ with the grouse-shooting industry, facilitating DEFRA’s ludicrous hen harrier brood meddling scheme, designed to placate the very industry responsible for this species’ persecution and subsequent catastrophic decline.

Harrison/DEFRA says: “[Vicarious liability] has been introduced in Scotland but it is unclear whether it has had a significant deterrent effect. We will continue to monitor the situation in Scotland to consider whether it is necessary and proportionate to assist in tackling wildlife crime in England“.

Vicarious liability has been in place in Scotland for 11 years. The recent UN report on UK wildlife crime made a recommendation that vicarious liability be introduced without delay in England and Wales. What does DEFRA have to lose by introducing it south of the Border?

Parliamentary question: what steps is DEFRA taking to fully investigate raptor persecution crimes during avian flu pandemic?

Another timely written question from Caroline Lucas MP (Green Party), as follows:

The presence of avian flu has important consequences for how the corpse of a dead raptor is handled and stored, under strict government rules, and unfortunately this impacts on the ability to conduct standard toxicology analyses for other potential causes of death, notably the detection of certain poisons.

You may recall this was an issue with the investigation into the suspicious death of a white-tailed eagle found dead on the Isle of Wight in March 2022 (here).

The police investigation into the circumstances and cause of death of that white-tailed eagle was hampered because a preliminary test indicated the eagle was harbouring avian flu (although this was ruled out as the cause of death during a later post mortem). However, as avian flu was detected, protocol dictated that the eagle’s tissue samples be stored in formalin, which then restricted the lab’s ability to detect poisons such as Bendiocarb or the significance of rodenticides in its body. As a result, the cause of death of this white-tailed eagle was unsatisfactorily recorded as ‘uncertain’ (see here).

Caroline’s written question was answered last Friday by Trudy Harrison, the Parliamentary Under Secretary of State in DEFRA, as follows:

This is another fluffy response from the DEFRA Minister, that looks substantive on the surface but when you drill down into it, it doesn’t say very much at all, other than the Government is ‘alive to the enforcement challenges’. It doesn’t tell us how those challenges are to be met, or even whether it will be possible to overcome them.

This is of serious concern, especially relating to raptors whose diets leave them more susceptible to contracting avian flu, for example white-tailed eagles . I’m aware that another young white-tailed eagle was found dead in Hampshire last autumn. It’s death was deemed ‘suspicious’ based on its movements and behaviour prior to death but it, too, tested positive for avian flu and as a result APHA refused to even conduct a post mortem to determine the cause of death, which may have been due to avian flu, or, like the dead white-tailed eagle found on the Isle of Wight last spring, it may just have been carrying avian flu but it wasn’t the cause of its death.

Parliamentary question: What is DEFRA’s timeline for enacting stronger regulation to address raptor persecution?

There have been a number of written Parliamentary questions in recent weeks relating to wildlife crime, and particularly to addressing raptor persecution.

Here’s the first one, submitted by Caroline Lucas MP (Green Party):

The report to which Caroline is referring is the UN Office of Drugs and Crime’s Wildlife and Forest Crime Analytical Toolkit Report: United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (2021), which is basically a comprehensive review of the prevalence of wildlife crime in the UK and an assessment of judicial responses. The report provides a series of recommendations that the UK and devolved Governments could implement to better address the issues.

The summary recommendation for addressing raptor persecution is as follows:

‘To bolster the legislative framework required to properly address raptor persecution, the WCA and licensing regime across the entire UK should be synthesised and aligned. As it currently stands, the discrepancy in sentencing, vicarious liability, disqualification powers, and more (for example, operationalisation of the pesticide provisions in the WCA), presents a confusing picture to law enforcement and the public. Though raptor persecution has been set as a priority for the UK, the differences in the statutory and licensing regimes present many obstacles to ensuring raptors receive the same level of protection across the entire UK‘.

You can download the report here:

uk_toolkit_reportDownload

Caroline’s written question was answered last Friday by Trudy Harrison, the Parliamentary Under Secretary of State in DEFRA, as follows:

As we’ve come to expect from DEFRA, this is little more than airy waffle.

Harrison says: “Where any protected raptors are killed illegally the full force of the law should apply to any proven perpetrators of the crime“.

Yes, it should, but it routinely isn’t.

Harrison says: “We already have significant sanctions for this type of wildlife crime in place which includes an unlimited fine and/or a six-month custodial sentence“.

Indeed, these sanctions are in place but there has only ever been one custodial sentence handed down to a raptor-killer – and that was in Scotland in 2015 when gamekeeper George Mutch was given a four-month custodial sentence for crimes he committed in 2012 (here). There haven’t been any others since then, and a custodial sentence has never been handed down in England, Wales or Northern Ireland for raptor persecution crime.

Harrison says: “To address concerns about the illegal killing of birds of prey, senior government and enforcement officers have identified raptor persecution as a national wildlife crime priority“.

Raptor persecution was identified as a national wildlife crime priority in 2009. That’s 14 years ago, and hundreds of birds of prey have been illegally killed in the UK since then.

Harrison says: “Defra continues to be fully involved with the police-led national Bird of Prey Crime Priority Delivery Group which brings together police, government and stakeholders“.  

This so-called Priority Delivery Group has been in place since 2011 and has delivered absolutely nothing of meaningful effect since then, largely due to the fact it is dominated by pro-shooting organisations who have a stranglehold on any progress that could have /should have been made. In my view, it’s a partnership sham, designed to look as though efforts are being made to effectively tackle illegal raptor persecution in England and Wales (see here).

Harrison says: “The extra funding we now provide to the NWCU is also to be allocated towards wildlife crime priorities including crimes against our birds of prey“.

The additional funding for the NWCU is really the only meaningful effort that DEFRA has made in over a decade, but it’s for the seven national wildlife crime priorities, not just for raptor persecution. The NWCU has played a valuable role in raptor persecution investigations in recent years, often partnering with others on multi-agency raids, and whilst that has been a significant and welcome move, the bottom line is that the NWCU can’t force any police authority to investigate raptor persecution, as we saw so clearly with the botched investigation by Dorset Police into the poisoned white-tailed eagle. NWCU officers were just as frustrated as the rest of us but they can only offer advice and training to Police forces; they can’t compel them to run a decent investigation, no matter how much they would want to.