Tag: gamekeeper

Bye, then

In a feature article in the latest edition of Shooting Times, the Chairman of the National Gamekeepers Organisation, Lindsay Waddell, laments the sale of Millden Estate in Angus (see our earlier story about the sale here).

He questions the reasons behind the sale, “just as the moor is coming good“. It’s a strange description for an estate where two-year-old golden eagle Alma was found poisoned in 2009 (see here). His theory about why Millden has come on the market goes like this:

“It would appear the answer lies in the recent legislation passed by the Scottish Parliament which holds landowners liable for the actions of their staff [vicarious liability], and that is something, it appears, some will not entertain at any cost. So it’s sell up, and get out. It may well turn out to be a sad day for the inhabitants of many glens if more and more of the modern-day owners decide to take the same course of action“.

Interesting.

Waddell goes on to acknowledge that there are still landowners (he says “a few”, we say ‘too many’) who won’t manage their land without the use of [illegal] poison and says these individuals have to shoulder a lot of the blame for the introduction of vicarious liability. No disagreement there, Lindsay – the criminals within your industry are finally having to face the music after 60 long years of relentless and systematic illegal raptor persecution.

He also comments that the new legislation (vicarious liability) is ‘open to abuse’. He writes: “It is all very easy for items to be ‘found’ on a piece of land“. By ‘items’, does he mean poisoned birds and poisoned baits, and enormous caches of illegal poison? Much like what was found on Skibo Estate in 2010? The ‘items’ that Dean Barr, sporting manager at Skibo Estate, claimed in the press had been planted by the RSPB (see here)? Obviously his press statement was made before he was found guilty of possessing 10.5 kg of Carbofuran – the UK’s biggest haul of this banned pesticide to date (see here).

Waddell continues by suggesting that Millden may be the first of many Scottish sporting estates to be sold. Let’s hope so. I can think of more than just ‘a few’ whose closure is long overdue.

Shooting Times article here

Inverinate Estate gamekeeper’s trial – more delay

The case against gamekeeper Andrew Malcolm Slaughter, which opened at Inverness Sheriff Court in March 2011, has been delayed once again.

The case opened in mid-March (see here for details) and was continued until 7th April.

On 7th April, it was adjourned until 28th April (see here).

On 28th April the case continued without plea until 19th May (see here).

On 19th May the case was put back until 12th October (see here).

The case has now been postponed until 17th November, eight months after the trial first started.

More detail emerges about ‘missing’ dead sea eagle on GWCT chief’s estate

Cast your minds back to February and you may recall the story about the white-tailed eagle that was reportedly found dead in the snow by a member of the public on Logie Estate, Moray in December 2010. The Scotsman newspaper said at the time that when the police arrived ‘the next morning’ to collect the body, it had ‘disappeared’. The paper reported that the estate owner, Mr Alasdair Laing (Game & Wildlife Conservation Trust’s Scottish Committee Chairman) and his gamekeepers were questioned by the police. The police said they couldn’t do anything without the body. Mr Laing wrote to the Scotsman and said it was mis-leading for them to report that he and his keepers had been ‘questioned’ and for them to say that the sea eagle had ‘disappeared’: “Use of words such as ‘questioned’ and ‘disappeared’ imply a level of suspicion of guilt  which is unwarranted by the circumstances“, he wrote (See here for the story).

Nothing more was heard about this incident and it seemed the investigation was destined to go the same way as every other investigation there has ever been into the ‘mysterious’ deaths of eagles in Scotland – i.e. nowhere. Fast forward seven months to September 2011 and the publication of the RSPB’s report: ‘The Illegal Killing of Birds of Prey in Scotland in 2010‘ (see here). Page 16 of this excellent report shows a photograph of a dead eagle accompanied by the following text:

“On 11 December 2010, a member of the public found and photographed the carcass of a white-tailed eagle, lying under a tree on a remote moorland near Lochindorb in Nairnshire. The police were notified, but when they attended the scene a few days later to recover the carcass for a post-mortem, it had disappeared. There were no tracks of scavengers in the surrounding snow, and there was not a feather remaining from the well-decomposed carcass. In fact, the only new tracks that were in the area were those of a quad bike, leading to near the finding location, and the footprints of the person who had walked over to the body, removed it, returned to the quad bike, and left the area“.

Hmm. A few things spring to mind here. First of all, when did the police attend the scene? The original article in the Scotsman said it was ‘the next morning’. The RSPB report says it was ‘a few days later’. Which report is accurate?

Secondly, now we’ve been told about the tracks in the snow, the question is, who was driving the quad bike on Logie Estate? The obvious assumption of course is that it was a gamekeeper. But if we believe Mr Laing, and why wouldn’t we, then it must have been someone else. So who else would be able to ride a quad bike, unnoticed, across the estate and back, to retrieve the dead eagle? Perhaps it was a fox. Perhaps he came out one night under the cover of darkness, jumped on the quad bike, drove it across the moorland to where the dead eagle was lying, pulled on a pair of boots and walked on his hind legs across the snow to the dead eagle, leant forward and picked up the dead eagle with his front paws, walked back to the quad bike on his hind legs, grasped the dead eagle between his teeth and drove the quad bike back, left it parked where he had found it, and skulked off into the night with his prized rotting eagle carcass.

A bit far fetched? I’d say no more so than some of the other explanations we’ve been asked to believe in recent months concerning the discovery of dead raptors on sporting estates.

Of course, the young sea eagle could have died from natural causes, although it certainly wasn’t from old age. The problem is, because the carcass was apparently removed before it could be sent for a post-mortem, we’ll never know. I’m sure people will read about the apparent chain of events and make up their own minds about what happened.

RSPB publishes 2010 raptor persecution report

The RSPB has just published its annual report on raptor persecution in Scotland. The report, ‘The Illegal Killing of Birds of Prey in Scotland 2010‘ is the only known published record of all known persecution incidents including poisoning, shooting and trapping, in contrast to the PAW Scotland annual report which only details poisoning incidents. As well as the confirmed incidents of persecution, the report also provides information about ‘probable’ incidents (those where the available evidence points to illegality as by far the most likely explanation but where the proof of an offence is not categorical) and ‘possible’ incidents (where an illegal act is a possible explanation but where another explanation would also fit the known facts).

The report provides details of several confirmed and probable persecution incidents that didn’t make it into the public domain at the time they occurred, including two shot sparrowhawks (Dingwall, Inverness-shire & nr Dolphinton, South Lanarkshire), a goshawk killed in a pole trap (nr Dalwhinnie, Inverness-shire), a shot short-eared owl (Leadhills, South Lanarkshire), 5 separate incidents involving peregrines (Stirlingshire, South Lanarkshire and Dumfries-shire), ‘disappearing’ hen harrier chicks (nr Knockando, Moray), a member of the public witnessing the shooting of a buzzard (nr Leadhills, South Lanarkshire), the discovery of a heavily decomposed buzzard carcass found in a stink pit (nr Dornie, Inverness-shire) and the discovery of a suspected pole-trapping site (nr Dornie, Inverness-shire).

Interestingly, although the report doesn’t go as far as naming estates in most incidents (apart from the reports of successful prosecutions), it does go further than the vague information provided in the annual PAW statistics. For example, in the PAW Scotland ‘Bird of Prey Poisoning Incidents 2006-2010 – Incident Details’ report (that we discussed here in March 2011), there are several cases of buzzard poisoning that were just listed as ‘Tayside’. The RSPB report clarifies this a little bit, and lists the locations as ‘Glenogil’ and ‘nr Kinross’.

This annual report makes for grisly reading, but as the report says, these incidents no longer shock or surprise us. The evidence yet again points to the involvement of people within the game-shooting industry; the latest statistics show that of all those convicted for illegal raptor persecution in Scotland between 2003-2010, 88% were involved with gamekeeping (the rest involved pest controllers, farmers and pigeon racers at 4% each).

The RSPB makes several recommendations in the report that would considerably reduce the difficulty of bringing these criminals to justice. They include recommended action for the police, the crown office & procurator fiscal service, the Scottish government, and representatives from the game-shooting industry. Some of these recommendations have been made before but have apparently remained unheeded.

Well done to the RSPB for publishing this report and for keeping the issue high on the political and public agenda.

The report can be downloaded here

Poisoning whodunnit? Police forensic scientist has no-eyed deer

Pioneering research in Scotland may lead to a new approach in detecting the perpetrators of wildlife crime. A new study has shown that low levels of human DNA can sometimes be retrieved from the carcasses of dead animals – in this case dead deer.

The original idea to look for human DNA on dead animals came from James Govan, a forensic scientist with the Scottish Police Services Authority, who was looking at ways of addressing the problem of bird of prey poisoning. He is reported to have said the following:

“It’s a horrendous problem, and nobody quite knows who’s doing it or why. Sometimes farmers are blamed, sometimes gamekeepers are blamed – but I associate with quite a few gamekeepers and most of them detest it, so it’s a mystery.”

Oh dear. Let’s hope his forensic skills are more impressive than his comprehension skills.

The researchers behind the new study (‘Recovery of human DNA profiles from poached deer remains: a feasibility study’) claim that this technique may be useful to identify deer poachers in the UK, as well as endangered species poachers in other parts of the world. They also suggest it has the potential to be used on other evidence collected in wildlife crime investigations such as feathers, eggs, snares or traps. This is encouraging news, although others have cautioned that the technique has yet to be tested on samples that have been exposed to the elements for any length of time, which may or may not degrade the quality and quantity of available DNA.

The study abstract can be viewed here

BBC news story here

Science Daily article here

Remony Estate provides safe haven for golden eagles

Remony Estate in Perthshire has joined a very small group of Scottish sporting estates known to actively support breeding populations of raptors on their grounds. Following in the footsteps of estates such as Coignafearn and Glen Tanar, Remony, near Aberfeldy, has provided a safe haven for a species not often tolerated on a working grouse moor – the golden eagle.

This year a pair of golden eagles was allowed to breed successfully and without disturbance at Remony, resulting in the production of two healthy offspring. One of the youngsters has been collected under licence to join the on-going effort to re-introduce the golden eagle to Ireland.

For the full story, click here.

Congratulations to Remony Estate owner, James Duncan Miller, and his team of gamekeepers, for showing the rest of their industry that raptor conservation and grouse moor management need not be mutually exclusive activities. They deserve to be recognised and acknowledged for their efforts.

Remony Estate website here

No vicarious liability for England

Richard Benyon MP, the DEFRA Minister for the Natural Environment and Fisheries, doesn’t see any need to follow Scotland’s lead of introducing vicarious liability to make landowners legally responsible for incidents of raptor persecution that occur on their estates.

On 30 June 2011, Labour MP Angela Smith (Penistone & Stocksbridge, South Yorkshire) asked the following question: Only two weeks ago, a gamekeeper was convicted for illegally killing birds of prey in my constituency. Is it not time to think about introducing a vicarious liability offence to ensure that landowners and estate managers supervise their gamekeepers more closely and more effectively?

Richard Benyon’s response: There are very good laws in place to punish the illegal killing of any animal. If they are not being effectively enforced, they must be and we will take steps to make sure that happens. However, this is a good opportunity to applaud gamekeepers for the wonderful work they do in providing excellent biodiversity across our countryside.

It was reported in the Telegraph last year that Mr Benyon is a ‘keen grouse-shooter’ (see here).

Perhaps Mr Benyon hasn’t looked at the national poisoning statistics of the last few years. If he had, he couldn’t have failed to notice how many of these confirmed incidents were now listed as ‘closed’ before any enforcement action was taken! (see here for 2008-2011 database).

Perhaps we should all be writing to Mr Benyon, to point him in the direction of these official statistics and to ask him what ‘steps he will take’ to ensure that effective law enforcement is taking place? Here’s his email address: richard@richardbenyon.com

Appeal pending for convicted gamekeeper Glenn Brown

An appeal is pending for convicted gamekeeper Glenn Brown, who was found guilty in June 2011 of offences relating to the illegal use of a cage trap to catch raptors on the National Trust’s Howden Moor in Derbyshire (see here, here and here).

This information was included in a feature article called ‘Raptors and the persecution of gamekeepers’ in the August 2011 edition of Modern Gamekeeping, written by solicitor Tim Ryan. It’s a tediously unoriginal article (you know, the old ‘planting of raptor corpses on shooting estates in order to get a keeper prosecuted’ routine), for which nobody has ever produced any evidence by the way. If there’s interest, the article can be posted here later.

The basis of Brown’s pending appeal is not given.

Badger cull model proposed for pine martens, otters, oh and buzzards

Thanks to the contributor who sent in the August edition of ‘Modern Gamekeeping’, a monthly rag that claims to be ‘Britain’s only independent gamekeeping industry publication’, although it boasts ‘to be in partnership with The British Association for Shooting and Conservation (BASC), so the notion of being an independent publication is somewhat perplexing.

The first article in this month’s rag is entitled: “Rise of the Mesopredator”. The sub-heading reads: “Editor Peter Carr welcomes the expected badger cull which, if it proves successful, may be a useful model to adopt for future predator licensing applications”.

It’s a longish article and because I’ve got to type it out I’m going to ignore the first half  which basically is a scare-mongering exercise on the badger ‘problem’, and I’ll just regurgitate the second half:

“Perhaps government will learn from this experience [a “too large” badger population] and look at other burgeoning predator populations in our countryside that are an increasing threat to our game birds, fisheries and other wildlife interests. If the proposed area-specific badger culling programme is successful, this model could be used in relation to the control of other mesopredators threatening countryside interests.

The problem predator situation in our Isles has been made much worse by misguided conservationists who have released and translocated certain mesopredators once thought to be threatened. Translocated pine martins [sic], for instance, have since spread across much of the country, destroying many of Scotland’s remaining capercaillie populations. One report conducted at Abernethy recorded that predators had destroyed 65 per cent of known capercaillie nests on the estate, and that a whopping great 57 per cent of these were known to be predated by pine martens.

Is it right to promote a predatory species that has found its natural balance to the detriment of an already struggling species such as the caper? I think not. Surely in areas of serious concern common sense has to be realised, and limited licensing of control put in place to prevent further loss of this iconic species.

The rapidly increasing otter population presents a similar story. In many areas, otters have turned to raiding commercial fisheries after decimating wild fish stocks.

Celebrity angler John Wilson MBE recently caused a major stir in the press when he once more called for immediate action against marauding otters and cormorants that have caused a catastrophic loss of fish in many parts of the country. Specimen carp fisheries that generate a significant amount of money and other wild coarse fisheries have crashed in recent years due to predation by both otters and cormorants. Serious concerns from salmon fisheries have also been expressed, especially in vulnerable spawning redds.

John Wilson has compiled a dossier over many months recording how his local waters and associated businesses have been affected by both otters and cormorants. He has called for other anglers around the country to help him compile further evidence and said: “why is it within the law for a farmer to shoot someone’s dog that is worrying his sheep, yet fish farmers, fishery owners and angling clubs etc are not freely allowed to cull predators such as cormorants and otters decimating their stocks of fish, it all beggars belief”.

The ‘Go Fishing’ star also recently appeared on prime time BBC news slamming predating otters that have been reintroduced all over the country by conservationists. “The otter is a wanton killer; it grabs a carp, eats a pound or two of flesh around the throat region and then leaves it. One in 20 people in Britain go fishing, paying 35 million pounds to the Government to look after our fisheries. I don’t think it is special pleading at all”, said the Norfolk-based TV angling legend. He certainly does have a point that should be seriously considered.

Let us hope that Government continues to see sense, and puts the regulation of wildlife concerns that affect our countryside’s economy and biodiversity into the hands of those that are in the know. Whether it’s badgers, otters, pine martens or buzzards, none of us want to eradicate these species, but it really is a question of balance that should be shared by all stake holders, and interested parties. Control practices should be implemented by professionals, and a high percentage of these, if ever licenses are put in place, will be by gamekeepers, river keepers and water ghillies. Let’s hope it is not too far in the future”.

No surprises there then – the usual anti-predator rhetoric that just happens to have thrown buzzards into the mix in what looks like a ‘jumping on the band wagon’ after-thought. Unfortunately this great rag is not available to read on-line, although you can subscribe (see here). It’s published by Blaze Publishing Ltd, with James Marchington listed as ‘Editorial Director’. The author of this particular article, Peter Carr, may be the same Peter Carr listed as ‘ex-gamekeeper, professional stalker, big game hunter and editor of Sporting Rifle magazine’ on the National Gamekeepers’ Organisation’s website.

It’s just ‘a few rogues’

One of the most significant barriers to ‘sorting out’ the widespread illegal persecution of raptors in Scotland is getting anyone to accept responsibility for these crimes. Previous analyses by the RSPB have shown an irrefutable link between illegally-killed raptors and the game-shooting industry (e.g. see here). Time and time again, scientific peer-reviewed studies have also shown the incontrovertible relationship between areas that are ‘missing’ breeding raptors such as golden eagles and hen harriers, and areas managed as sporting grouse moors (e.g. take a look at the government-funded Conservation Framework Reports for the golden eagle and hen harrier as a starter).

Despite the long-standing and highly-regarded body of evidence, the game-shooting industry continues to refuse responsibility. The latest article in the Scotsman (see here) provides a perfect example of this.

It’s a handful of “rogue estates” carrying out poisonings, say the gamekeepers. It’s a “handful of estates” says David Hendry of the Cardney Estate. It’s “a minority” says Susan Davies of Scottish Natural Heritage. It’s a “tiny minority” according to the SGA response to the article on their Facebook page.

It’s an interesting choice of words isn’t it? The term ‘rogue’ is often used in a jocular sense in today’s society – “Oh, he’s just a loveable rogue”, meaning yes an individual is bending the rules but he’s not doing any real harm, he’s alright really. The term ‘rogue’ is also used to infer just one or two individuals (e.g. it was a rogue crocodile, or it was a rogue tiger that attacked the man), as is the term ‘a handful’. What is a handful? One or two? Not more than five? Not more than ten? The term ‘minority’ (depending on the context) refers to less than the majority.

Do any of these words adequately describe the extent of illegal raptor persecution on Scottish sporting estates, or are they just words used to deflect the increasingly obvious conclusion that illegal raptor persecution is endemic across many sporting estates? Let’s look at the stats.

This blog has been accused of using out-of-date information to create the false illusion of widespread raptor persecution. It’s a valid criticism in some ways as our Named Estates page dates back to incidents that were recorded in 1979. Actually it only includes one record from 1979 but to be fair the list does include a lot of reported incidents from the 1980s and 1990s. These early reported incidents were only used to illustrate the historical nature of illegal raptor persecution – i.e. it’s been going on for decades, but to be completely upfront we have since indicated which of those estates are known to have since changed hands (and thus potentially changed their ‘management’ practices). So, let’s just look at reported incidents from the last two years – that is, from January 2009 to March 2011, the most up-to-date figures available in the public domain.

During this period, twenty-six named locations have been identified as places where dead raptors have been reportedly found in suspicious circumstances. Most were poisoned but ‘a handful’ were shot or trapped and one (on Logie Estate) was found dead but the cause of death remains unknown. Of these 26 locations, 14 were on named estates: Auch Estate, Edradynate Estate, Farr and Kyllachy Estate, Glenbuchat Estate, Glenogil Estate, Invercauld Estate, *Leadhills Estate, Logie Estate, Millden Estate, Mountquhanie Estate, *Moy Estate, *Redmyre Estate, *Skibo Estate, Strathspey Estate. The remaining 12 locations were un-named and may or may not involve estates: eight in 2010 and four between Jan/Mar 2011. Of course, just because an illegally poisoned, shot or trapped dead raptor is discovered at a location doesn’t necessarily implicate the estate owner, shooting tenant or gamekeeper. It could just be a series of unfortunate coincidences, even though in the Scotsman article David Hendry of Cardney Estate admits that “there are a number of estates using poison still.” On only four of the above estates have gamekeepers been convicted for related crimes (Leadhills, Moy, Redmyre and Skibo).

If we expand the search to the previous five years (2006-2011 – as this is still relatively recent), then obviously the list grows:

*Birthwood Farm, *BlythFarm, *Cabrach Estate, Clova Estate, Dawyck Estate, Dinnet & Kinord Estate, Dunecht Estate, *Frogden Farm, *Glenbuchat Estate, Glenfeshie Estate, Glenogil Estate, Glen Turret Estate, *Innes House Estate. (The ones with an asterisk indicate a conviction during this period).  In addition, a further six un-named locations are reported.

If we remove from this expanded list those estates that were already included in the two-year analysis (i.e. Glenbuchat, Glenogil) then we are left with a total of 25 different estates where dead raptors have been reportedly discovered in suspicious circumstances in the last five years. Add to these the 18 un-named locations and you get a running total of 43 different locations, assuming that all of the un-named locations were different to the named locations.

Forty-three. Is that ‘a minority’? Well yes, in the strictest sense it is because there are hundreds of shooting estates in Scotland. The exact number seems hard to pinpoint but it’s certainly at least in the low hundreds, which means that 43 is a minority in this context. But is it a ‘tiny minority’? Is it ‘a few rogues’? Is it ‘a handful’? No it isn’t. It’s a lot more than that and the game-shooting industry is being disingenuous if it continues to peddle this rural myth. But of course they’ll continue to peddle it because they want us to believe that they’re a law-abiding industry who just happen to want licences to be allowed to legally kill ‘just a few rogue’ raptors.

And what of the locations that haven’t been reported but can be implied by the ‘missing’ breeding raptors reported in the scientific papers? How many of these locations are there? Who knows. One thing is for sure – if the landowners and gamekeepers won’t admit responsibility for the incidents we do know about, they sure as hell aren’t going to admit to the ones we don’t know about! The representative bodies all say they’re working hard behind the scenes to get the ‘rogues’ to stop, but they’ve been saying that for a long, long time and here we are in 2011 and the killing continues up and down the country, with the exception of ‘a handful’ of decent estates who proactively welcome breeding raptors. Why does it continue? Because the majority know they can get away with it, just as they have been doing for the past 50+ years.