Tag: crow trap

Glen Turret Estate under new management – ecological restoration is in, grouse shooting is out

Some good news to start the week!

At the recent REVIVE conference in Perthshire I met a couple of people from a relatively new Scottish-based charity called the KITH Trust, who, along with the University of Edinburgh, had earlier this year bought the Glen Turret Estate in Strathbraan, Perthshire.

Approximate location of Glen Turret Estate in Perthshire

Regular blog readers will know that Strathbraan is dominated by a number of estates with driven grouse moors and the area has been identified in a Government-commissioned report as being a hotspot for raptor persecution. It’s also the area where NatureScot (formerly SNH) licensed a controversial raven cull in 2018 (see here) but then came under fire from its own scientific advisory committee who stated the scientific rigour of the licence was “completely inadequate“.

Glen Turret Estate has been at the centre of police investigations into alleged wildlife crime over a period of many years (no prosecutions or General Licence restrictions, natch) so the news that it is under new management and no longer operating as a driven grouse moor is very welcome indeed.

This should mean an end to the use of things like crow-cage traps, commonly deployed [legally!] on grouse moors in all seasons, where non-target species like this Long-eared owl can no longer be caught and held for over 24 hrs in appalling weather conditions (photo by RSPB).

This screengrab shows the new ownership details, from Andy Wightman’s brilliant website, Who Owns Scotland:

This map shows the boundary of the area under Kith Trust management, in addition to the Barvick Burn Wood, now under the management of the University of Edinburgh:

The Kith Trust has kindly provided some information about its plans, for publication on this blog:

The KITH Trust (SC049902), a small Scottish family run charity, took on stewardship of Glenturret Estate in January 2024 in partnership with the Department for Social Responsibility and Sustainability at The University of Edinburgh to facilitate their similar goals of ecological restoration.

KITH Trust is dedicated to restoring and protecting natural ecosystems and supporting biodiversity as well as supporting local community activities and enterprise.

The University intends to fence off part of the estate for a mixed tree planting scheme. They have carried out a community engagement project, archaeological surveys and ecological surveys to ensure any activities are undertaken to work with the natural environment and local communities.

KITH Trust has stewardship of the remainder, mainly hill ground. This land has historically been dedicated to the preservation of red grouse. This practice is no longer a primary aim of Glenturret Estate and it no longer operates as a driven grouse moor. There is a farming enterprise on Glenturret that has been in operation for many years. One of the aims of KITH is to reduce, over time, grazing pressure through farming practices that look after both agriculture and the environment. Another is to restore peatland areas. As a result natural regeneration is supported. Active deer management will be undertaken in collaboration with other members of the South Perthshire Deer Management Group and in conjunction with Nature Scot.

ENDS

The University of Edinburgh has a useful website outlining its plans for the restoration of Barvick Burn Wood here.

No doubt certain organisations from the grouse shooting sector will be very unhappy at the loss of another driven grouse moor and over the coming months/years will be misrepresenting the ecological restoration work, just as they have done with other rewilding efforts (e.g. here).

Some of us don’t want to wait for the buy-out of individual driven grouse moors, we’d like to see a widespread ban on driven grouse shooting sooner rather than later. If you share that view, please sign the new petition from Wild Justice calling for a ban – HERE.

Gamekeeper charged with attempting to trap goshawks in North Wales

Press release from North Wales Police (7th March 2024):

Wrexham man charged with wildlife offences

A man has been charged with attempting to take Goshawks in a cage trap on land on the outskirts of Wrexham.

Young goshawk in a cage trap. Photo by RSPB (file photo, not linked to this case)

Birds of prey such as Goshawk are protected under the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981.

The 47 year old man from the Wrexham area was postal charged with using a trap for the purpose of killing or taking a wild bird and possessing an article capable of being used to kill or take a wild bird.

He is due to appear before Wrexham Magistrates Court on Thursday, March 28th.

North Wales Police rural crime team will pursue anyone targeting wildlife and continue to work with our partners the RSPB and National Wildlife Crime Unit.

ENDS

This press release is quite vague, and I believe deliberately so. Definitely one to watch. Comments are closed until criminal proceedings have concluded.

UPDATE 9th March 2024: This blog article has been picked up by Nation Cymru, the Welsh news service, here.

UPDATE 27th March 2024: Gamekeeper Stuart Hart due in court tomorrow to face charges of alleged wildlife crime (here)

Prosecution rate for crimes against birds of prey less than 4% – Sky News

This weekend Sky News ran several pieces about raptor persecution and how the wildlife killers are getting with these crimes, with a prosecution rate of less than 4%.

They produced a written piece (here) featuring quotes from the RSPB’s Investigations Team and they also conducted several interviews, one with Howard Jones, RSPB Senior Investigations Officer, one with Mark Thomas, Head of RSPB Investigations and one with Chris Packham.

The interview with Mark Thomas showed some covert video footage by the RSPB showing two gamekeepers removing live buzzards from a crow cage trap, putting them inside fertiliser sacks, tying the top and putting the bags inside a vehicle. It doesn’t show what happened to them next but you can probably imagine; there have been enough previous cases where gamekeepers have been caught on camera bludgeoning trapped birds of prey to death (e.g. see here, here, here) to make an educated guess. These earlier convictions probably explain why these days its common to see the trapped birds being removed from the trap and taken away, presumably to be killed away from potential covert cameras. It’s also telling that the gamekeepers involved in more recent cases typically wear face masks in an attempt to hide their identities. They’ve learned from the mistakes of others.

As Mark discusses during the interview, it’s not an offence to catch birds of prey in crow cage traps – they often get in and can’t then find a way out. If the trap operator releases them, unharmed, immediately after discovering them, then no offence has been committed. Putting them inside a sack and taking them away is a clear offence and is indicative of further offences (i.e. killing the birds elsewhere).

This particular footage hasn’t previously been published, and there’s a reason for that. I’ll return to this case in a separate blog.

I can’t find the full interviews in one place but there are various clips that can be watched via Twitter, which I’ve linked below.

‘Predator control’ on Scottish grouse moors causes tremendous, unjustifiable suffering to animals, say academics

Press release from the Oxford Centre for Animal Ethics (4th December 2023):

‘Predator control’ on Scottish grouse moors causes tremendous, unjustifiable suffering to animals, say academics.

Over 120 academics worldwide have backed a report that calls for an end to snaring, trapping, and poisoning animals on Scottish moors. Animals are killed in order to artificially inflate grouse populations for shooting.

“The best available estimates indicate that as many as 260,000 animals are killed as a result of legal ‘predator control’ practices each year in Scotland” maintains the Report.

The Report is signed by numerous ethicists and philosophers, including Scottish academics from the universities of St Andrews, Edinburgh, Stirling, and Aberdeen, and the Nobel Laureate, J. M. Coetzee.

Titled “Killing to Kill,” the 71-page report by the Oxford Centre for Animal Ethics graphically details how each method of control “causes suffering, or prolongs suffering, or makes animals liable to suffering.”

Snares are condemned because they “inevitably mean that animals can struggle for hours in considerable pain and distress.” Even the supposedly most humane trap, the DOC (Department of Conservation) trap, only kills 80% of its victims quickly, while the remaining 20% are left to suffer appalling injuries, with no requirement for inspection. And poisons mean that animals suffer for days.

“This is a major moral issue” claims Centre director the Revd Professor Andrew Linzey, “it simply cannot be right to cause tremendous suffering for non-essential purposes. When we began the report, we knew hardly anything about these control measures, but we have been staggered by the degree of suffering. Few people are cognizant of the situation. It is a much neglected and overlooked area of animal cruelty.”

The report concludes by calling for a new charter for free-living animals. “Scotland could lead the way in pioneering legislation that encompasses not only domestic animals, but also free-living ones. This legislation should begin with the recognition of sentiency and enshrine in law the value and dignity of free-living animals such that their right to live unmolested is respected.”

The report is written by a fellow and the directors of the Centre, Dr Katie Javanaud, Dr Clair Linzey, and the Revd Professor Andrew Linzey. It was commissioned by the Scottish charity, the League Against Cruel Sports, but is an entirely independent report and at no point did the League seek to influence the Report’s findings or conclusions.

Director of the League Against Cruel Sports Scotland Robbie Marsland, commented: “The League Against Cruel Sports is not surprised that many people believe Scotland’s “grouse moors” are an animal ethics free zone. Polling shows that 76% of Scots do not support the practice of ‘predator control’ to kill hundreds and thousands of animals so that more grouse can be shot for entertainment.

“This report clearly outlines the ethical case against this uncontrolled killing. The biggest surprise is that any suggestion that this killing should stop is met with incredulity by the shooting fraternity. We hope the report will open the eyes of politicians considering the Wildlife Management and Muirburn (Scotland) Bill to the enormous ethical issues before them.”

ENDS

The report can be read / downloaded here:

killing-to-kill_oxford-centre-animal-ethicsDownload

The report’s publication received front page coverage in The Herald this morning (here).

Two gamekeepers due in court after police investigation on Van Cutsem’s Hilborough Estate in Norfolk

Two gamekeepers are due to appear at Norwich Magistrates Court next week charged with a number of alleged offences relating to a police investigation that centred on William van Cutsem’s Hilborough Estate in Norfolk last year.

A police search of the estate took place in April 2022 after a group called the Hunt Investigation Team, describing itself as ‘anti bloodsports’, said it had recorded covert video footage of a masked man with a goshawk inside what was considered to be an illegally-set trap on the estate. The masked man removed the goshawk and walked away from the trap. The goshawk’s fate was unknown.

Details of the charges have not yet been publicised and as this will be the first hearing in this case, the two gamekeepers have not yet entered a plea. Hopefully details will become clearer after the first hearing.

PLEASE NOTE: As this is now a live prosecution blog comments will not be accepted until criminal proceedings have concluded. Thanks for your understanding.

Previous blogs on this case can be found here:

8th May 2022: Van Cutsem’s Hilborough Estate in Norfolk at centre of police investigation into alleged raptor persecution (here)

10th May 2022: Illegally-set trap found on van Cutsem’s Hilborough Estate in Norfolk (here)

11th May 2022: Police confirm bird of prey was caught in illegally-set trap on van Cutsem’s Hilborough Estate in Norfolk (here)

12th May 2022: Covert footage published showing masked man with trapped goshawk on van Cutsem’s Hilborough Estate (here)

16th May 2022: Mail on Sunday blames ‘vigilantes’ for police investigation into alleged wildlife crime on van Cutsem’s estate (here)

12th August 2022: GWCT disregards police investigation into alleged wildlife crime on van Cutsem’s Norfolk estate (here)

Inhumane trapping of wild animals on grouse moors must end – opinion piece by Bob Elliot (OneKind)

The Press & Journal published an excellent opinion piece by Bob Elliot yesterday, timed to coincide with the Inglorious 12th.

Bob is the former Head of Investigations at RSPB and currently is the Director of OneKind, a small yet effective animal welfare charity in Scotland that punches well above its weight. OneKind is also a member of REVIVE, the coalition for grouse moor reform, so Bob’s credentials to write this piece are second to none.

Most readers of this blog are, I would guess, very familiar with the consequences of illegally-set traps on grouse moors and their use to capture birds of prey which are then subsequently killed, but there’s less attention given to the legal use of these traps to target so-called legitimate ‘pest’ species.

This typically thoughtful piece from Bob covers the main welfare concerns. It’s reproduced below:

At this time of the year, my thoughts always turn to the start of the grouse shooting season, or the “Glorious Twelfth”, as it is known in the shooting community.

There really isn’t anything glorious about it at all, people shooting live birds for fun.

For the shooting groups to have enough grouse to kill, the grouse moors need to be heavily managed, and the killing of predators continues unrelentingly.

In the past, I spent many a day walking the hills of Scotland, investigating wildlife crime, and would regularly come across cage traps used by gamekeepers: structures of wood and wire, incongruous looking objects in the landscape. But, did you know that crows and magpies, intelligent and sensitive birds, are routinely trapped and killed in these cages?

There are several types of traps, and they fall into two main categories: large crow cage traps, big enough for a person to enter, which are designed to catch multiple birds, and the smaller, more portable Larsen traps, which are designed to catch one bird.

Whilst many wildlife crime incidents have been recorded for the “misuse” of crow cage traps, their use is cruel, even when used legally. The impact being caught in these traps has on crows and other corvids, such as magpies, should not be underestimated.

Sudden confinement is inevitably going to be frightening and stressful for any wild animal. On top of this, crows and magpies are territorial birds, so being forced to share space with others leads to additional stress and aggression. Birds will fly about, frantically trying to escape, and can injure themselves in the process.

It is legally permitted to leave birds in these traps for up to 24 hours. After a long confinement, possibly exposed to the elements and to predation, they are killed by the person who set the trap.

This is usually done with a blow to the head, but it is not always a humane death and may take repeated hits. I remember an incident where a gamekeeper was filmed trying for several minutes to catch and kill crows in a trap, while the others flew around, panicked.

Even worse, though, must be the use of “decoy” birds, used to lure other birds into the trap in a seemingly endless cycle of killing. I have seen birds enduring some of the worst Scottish weather.

On one occasion, I remember temperatures were very low, and the biting wind was blowing the rain sideways on the exposed hillside. The decoy bird in the trap remained hunched on the perch, with no shelter apart from a rudimentary box placed on the floor in the corner of the trap.

These decoy birds could be used repeatedly for weeks or months, after initially being caught themselves. They might be mutilated to cut their wing and tail feathers, so they are unable to fly.

Although there is a legal requirement to provide them with food, water, shelter and a perch, these provisions are often pitifully inadequate. Either way, they are ultimately doomed to death, and are confined so that others can meet the same fate.

All this killing so that an unnaturally high population of red grouse can be maintained for sport shooting. In my mind, it is unjustifiable.

The Wildlife Management and Muirburn (Scotland) Bill currently in parliament will bring greater regulations on the use of these traps, and we welcome that.

We would, of course, prefer to see an end to crow cage traps altogether, and will continue to campaign for the banning of their use. However, it is crucial that steps are taken now to regulate the trapping of crows and other wild animals in a way that prevents the worst suffering of wild animals on Scotland’s grouse moors.

ENDS

For anyone interested in reading more on this subject, I’d recommend Alick Simmons’ new book: Treated Like Animals – Improving the lives of the creatures we own, eat and use. (2023 Pelagic Publishing). Alick worked as the UK Government’s Deputy Chief Veterinary Officer for many years. In his book he devotes an entire chapter to ‘Snares, Guns and Poison: the ‘Management’ of wildlife. Well worth a read (see here).

Barn owl found dead in a crow cage trap on an Angus Glens grouse moor

Over the weekend I was advised that a barn owl had reportedly been found dead inside a crow cage trap situated on a grouse moor in the notorious raptor persecution hotspot, the Angus Glens.

The discovery was apparently made during the first week of January 2023.

I understand the trap was tagged with the operator’s registration number (now a legal requirement in Scotland) and that the trap had not been disabled (i.e. the door hadn’t been removed/padlocked open) and so as far as the law is concerned, the trap was considered to be in-use, which means the trap operator has a legal obligation to check the trap at least once every 24 hours and release any non-target species. The General Licence conditions also state, ‘A check must be sufficient to determine whether there are any live or dead birds or other animals in the trap‘.

I asked Police Scotland to confirm the details of this case, whether a police search had been undertaken, if so, when, and what the current status is of the investigation?

After some hesitation, this afternoon a police spokesperson provided the following statement:

“The incident has been reported to police and enquiries are ongoing“.

There’s more to this case than meets the eye. Watch this space…

UPDATE 19th January 2023: This blog article was picked up by The Courier, here

BBC programme ‘Caught Red Handed’ features conviction of buzzard-killing gamekeeper John Orrey

A BBC programme called ‘Caught Red Handed‘ has featured the conviction of buzzard-killing gamekeeper John Orrey and the role of the RSPB Investigations team in bringing him to justice.

‘Caught Red Handed‘ is a daytime TV programme, hosted by Dom Littlewood, that ‘looks at clever ways that the police and the public are catching crooks red handed‘. Currently being broadcast at 10am every weekday, this is bound to have brought the spectre of illegal raptor persecution to a much wider audience.

Orrey, you may recall, was convicted in January this year after covert footage provided by the RSPB caught him battering buzzards to death after he’d caught them in an illegally-set trap on a pheasant shoot at Hall Farm, Kneeton, Nottinghamshire (see here).

In the programme, previously-unseen footage of the police raid is shown:

There is an extensive interview with RSPB Investigator Tom Grose, who provides a behind-the-scenes explanation of the investigation. His poise and professionalism is exemplary.

This episode of Caught Red Handed is available on iPlayer for 29 days (here) and the feature lasts for about ten minutes, starting at 7.21 mins.

GWCT disregards police investigation into alleged wildlife crime on Van Cutsem’s Norfolk estate

Last week I wrote about how former Cabinet Secretary Fergus Ewing MSP, the Scottish Gamekeepers Association, and landowners’ lobby group Scottish Land & Estates had shown complete disregard for the sanction imposed on Moy Estate after raptor persecution crimes had been recorded there (see here).

This week it’s the turn of the Game & Wildlife Conservation Trust (GWCT) to seemingly turn a blind eye.

Have a look at this event currently being promoted on GWCT’s website:

Regular readers will know that Hilborough House is the home of William van Cutsem. In May this year, police raided the estate after video footage emerged of alleged raptor persecution.

The footage, captured on a secret camera installed by the Hunt Investigation Team, appeared to show a crow cage trap in woodland alleged to be on the Hilborough Estate. The trap had been baited with live pigeons (this is an offence) and a young goshawk was attracted to the bait, entered the trap and then couldn’t escape. A masked man is then recorded entering the trap, pinning the goshawk to the side netting with a stick so he could grab the bird, and then removing it from the trap and walking away with it (also an offence). The goshawk’s fate is not shown.

As far as I’m aware, the police investigation is ongoing.

Mr Van Cutsem hasn’t commented publicly about this investigation although in a classic attempt at diversion, the Mail on Sunday ran a piece quoting ‘an unnamed source close to Mr van Cutsem’ who questioned the relationship between the Hunt Investigation Team and the RSPB:

‘What also is interesting is how close HIT works with the RSPB. It would be good to understand how a mainstream charity is working with a shady group’. 

Oh the irony!

Mail on Sunday blames ‘vigilantes’ for police investigation into alleged wildlife crime on Van Cutsem’s estate

The police investigation of alleged raptor persecution and associated wildlife crime at William van Cutsem’s Hilborough Estate in Norfolk is being kept in the public eye thanks to the Mail on Sunday (MOS).

However, instead of claiming that [Police] ‘Officers found no evidence of wrong-doing‘ [on van Cutsem’s estate] which is what the MOS published the previous weekend (here), this time they’re focusing on the ‘animal rights vigilantes’ who had secretly filmed the alleged offences on the estate and then passed on their footage to the police.

The full article can be read here.

It’s classic tabloid nonsense, designed to take the focus off the alleged offences and undermine the credibility of the people who discovered those alleged offences.

The article quotes ‘a source close to Mr van Cutsem‘ throughout, but conveniently doesn’t name that source. Quotes from this unidentified source include:

‘A source close to Mr van Cutsem condemned HIT as a vigilante group which had set up cameras on private land without his permission, saying there were questions about its relationship with police and the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds‘.

and

‘William is baffled the police didn’t say anything or give him any information and he had to read about it [on their Twitter page],’ said the source.

and

‘What also is interesting is how close HIT works with the RSPB. It would be good to understand how a mainstream charity is working with a shady group. Police said nothing.’

and

‘The source added: ‘William doesn’t want to say anything else at this stage, but needless to say it’s bonkers that the first he finds out about details was not from the police but from the HIT story’. 

‘The same weekend this happened, a neighbouring estate had four traps vandalised and a buzzard was found in another one, which was then released by the estate owner. 

‘These were all reported to the police. I’m also surprised the RSPB, who attended the raid, seem to be getting information from a group with a long history of shady entrapments.‘

Interesting then that ‘the source’ didn’t apparently raise any concerns about what had been filmed, just who had filmed it and whether they had permission to do so.

This sort of commentary is a tried and tested routine, and one we’ve seen over and over again from the likes of You Forgot the Birds and C4PMC, even down to the slagging off of the RSPB. This is not quality journalism, it’s just laughable bollocks, designed to deflect attention from the alleged crimes filmed on this estate.

I particularly enjoyed the MOS’s sub-heading in this article:

‘They [that’ll be the so-called vigilantes] released a video purporting to show a Goshawk stuck in a trap on the estate‘.

Er, I think it was a bit more than showing ‘a goshawk stuck in a trap’! What the video actually showed was a masked man removing a goshawk from an illegally-set trap (baited with live pigeons) purportedly filmed on van Cutsem’s estate. The man was then filmed carrying the goshawk away, which is also an offence under the Wildlife & Countryside Act (the goshawk should have been immediately released).

Thanks for the laugh, MOS, and especially for the crap reporting which will just draw this police investigation to the attention of an even larger audience.

I look forward to reading an update from Norfolk Police in due course.