Tag: golden eagle

Moorland Association’s brood meddling press release amounts to abuse of process

Whichever way you look at it, the Moorland Association’s press release on hen harrier brood meddling amounts to an abuse of process.

First of all there’s the abuse of process in terms of the internal governance of the brood meddling project. We know, from the formal brood meddling project plan, that there’s a Project Board whose responsibilities include:

(a) ensuring that reporting from the project team is timely and acted upon;

(b) to oversee project external communications

We now know that the Moorland Association released its press release on Sunday without the knowledge and consent of project partner Natural England. How do we know this? Because Tony Juniper stated as much in a tweet yesterday:

Not only that, but we’ve also been informed via another source that the satellite tag data released by the Moorland Association was incorrect – apparently one of those harriers had not travelled to southern Ireland at all, but the Moorland Association had simply misunderstood / misinterpreted the data!

Now, the issue of whether the Moorland Association, or anyone else connected to an industry that’s been identified as being responsible for the mass illegal killing of hen harriers, should have access to hen harrier satellite tag data is a topic for another time (for the record – no, of course they bloody shouldn’t for what should be plainly obvious reasons) but the abuse of process from an internal (Project Board) perspective is quite clear. At least one of the Project Board team (Natural England) was excluded from the decision to publish, let alone what to publish.

Will the Moorland Association suffer any consequences/sanctions for this abuse of process, let alone leaving the Project Board’s credibility and integrity in pieces? Probably not.

A far more serious apparent abuse of process is the external one. That is, the suspicious disappearances of two satellite-tagged hen harriers are currently the subject of live police investigations and yet the Moorland Association chose to publish the information WITHOUT THE PRIOR KNOWLEDGE OR CONSENT OF THE POLICE. It was also published before the police had conducted any land searches at the locations of the tags’ last known fixes as part of the investigation. We know this from a conversation we had yesterday with Police Supt Nick Lyall.

That is absolutely outrageous and wholly unacceptable. It could also potentially be a criminal offence and have jeopardised the police investigation by alerting any suspect and providing them with an opportunity to remove evidence and clean up their tracks before the police arrive.

Amanda Anderson, Director of the Moorland Association, can’t claim ignorance on this issue. As a long-term member of the RPPDG, and a frequent critic of the RSPB’s role in police investigations, the Moorland Association knows the police-led investigative process very well.

For those who don’t know the process, here’s what happens when we suspect something has happened to one of our satellite-tagged golden eagles:

  1. First of all there’s a detailed discussion and analysis of the eagle’s recent movements and satellite tag data undertaken by a group of researchers who are recognised international experts in this field and have extensive experience of golden eagle ecology and satellite tag functioning.
  2. Immediate contact is made with the National Wildlife Crime Unit (NWCU) to provide them with an early warning heads up. Tag data are shared with the NWCU, in confidence, and the NWCU is fully appraised of the analysis to date.
  3. The NWCU carries out its own analysis of the tag data and puts together its own confidential intelligence package about the tag’s last known location.
  4. The NWCU and the tag owner decide an appropriate course of action, e.g. no action required because the circumstances aren’t suspicious; or wait for a bit longer (depending on the tag type and the data duty cycle etc) before deciding a further course of action; or agree that the researchers can go and retrieve the corpse and submit for a post mortem if the circumstances don’t indicate anything suspicious; or agree that the police will either go and retrieve the corpse (assuming there is one and the circumstances look suspicious) or agree the police will go and conduct a detailed search of the tag’s last known location if the circumstances suggest any hint of suspicious activity.
  5. Any subsequent media statements are made only after discussion and agreement between the police and the tag operator.

This is the protocol we follow for our satellite-tagged golden eagles and we’re also aware it’s the same protocol the RSPB follows for their satellite-tagged hen harriers. Contrary to the myths, lies and slurs constantly churned out by the Scottish Gamekeepers Association and Scottish Land and Estates et al, we have worked hard to build up a mutually trusting working relationship with the NWCU (helped enormously, it has to be said, by the new head of unit, Chief Inspector Lou Hubble) and this protocol is working exceptionally well. Indeed, we’ve been using it this very week.

[Chief Inspector Lou Hubble, head of the National Wildlife Crime Unit (NWCU) at a satellite tag workshop in North Yorkshire earlier this year. Photo by Ruth Tingay]

We’ll be commenting at length, in the near future, about the SGA’s recent petition to the Scottish Parliament calling for the police to be ‘allowed access’ to sat tag data – those morons at the SGA are obviously oblivious to the fact the police already have access and not only do they have access, several of them are now trained to comprehend and interpret the complex array of engineering and locational data of different tag types.

So, in light of this protocol that we all have to adhere to (and when I say ‘have to adhere to’ we do so voluntarily and willingly because it’s working well and why wouldn’t we want to help the police to investigate crimes against our raptors?!), we fully expect other satellite-tagging projects to also have to adhere.

Does it look like the Moorland Association has adhered?

No, it doesn’t because clearly they haven’t.

The question now is, what sanction, if any, will the Moorland Association face for such blatant abuse of process?

Pre-Werritty propaganda from grouse shooting industry

As we all continue to wait for the publication of Professor Werritty’s report on driven grouse shooting, the usual suspects have been busy putting together a damage limitation programme to save their sorry necks.

An ‘informal alliance’ has been created under the banner of RELM (Rural Environment Land Management) ‘to help co-ordinate and streamline responses and communications ahead of the publication of the final report‘ and its first offering is this briefing document for MSPs which was distributed by Scottish Land & Estates a couple of weeks ago:

Here’s the intro blurb:

Grouse moor management has been the subject of much attention during the summer period across a range of issues such as the environment and species conservation, satellite tagging and wildlife crime, mountain hares and the start of the season on August 12.

With the Scottish Government’s review into grouse moor management due to be published shortly, rural organisations wished to provide the following update to parliamentarians. We would be pleased to provide additional detail where required.

Ah, how thoughtful. Amusingly, several MSPs have sent us a copy of this briefing document with comments along the lines of ‘You might want to say a few things about this’.

We’re grateful to those MSPs because yes, we do want to say a few things about the document’s contents and we wouldn’t otherwise have had an opportunity had they not shared the briefing with us.

We’re not posting the full briefing document here, yet. Instead we intend to blog about different aspects of it in turn.

Today we’re looking at the page entitled ‘Wildlife Crime’ and its five paragraphs of propaganda:

Propaganda paragraph 1:

Yes, significant media attention does remain focused on wildlife crime, and particularly illegal raptor persecution because everyone else finds it abhorrent and can’t understand why it still goes on and why the grouse shooting industry continues to shield the criminals involved. It’d be interesting to know what, exactly, these five organisations have done to crack down on raptor persecution as part of their claimed ‘full commitment to improving prevention, detection and prosecution’.

Propaganda paragraph 2:

No surprises here. This is a blatant attempt, yet again, to discredit the RSPB’s annual Birdcrime Report which was published a couple of weeks ago and showed that confirmed raptor persecution crimes in Scotland in 2018 had doubled from those recorded in 2017. These cases included a peregrine poisoned in the Pentland Hills, near Edinburgh; a buzzard found to have been shot twice, in South Lanarkshire; a buzzard caught in an illegal trap, in Inverness-shire; and a hen harrier caught in a spring trap in Perthshire. All of these incidents occurred on, or close to, land being managed intensively for driven grouse shooting.

With this level of relentless criminality, it’s no wonder the grouse shooting industry apologists want to infer that the RSPB’s data are ‘unofficial’. Fine. We’ll come back to this later this autumn when the Government publishes its annual wildlife crime report, which we know will include all of the confirmed incidents already reported by the RSPB.

Propaganda paragraph 3:

This is perhaps the most cynical of attempts to downplay the disgusting reality of the criminality still being committed on some driven grouse moors. And the first sentence of paragraph 3 is actually a lie. Not being pursued by Police Scotland? Er, ALL the cases of alleged raptor persecution that have been reported from grouse moors over the last few months are still considered to be live criminal investigations by the Police, according to the investigations officer we spoke to yesterday.

So, the satellite-tagged hen harrier that was found dead on a grouse moor in Strathbraan with an illegal spring trap clamped to its leg – it’s still the subject of a criminal investigation by the police.

The two satellite-tagged golden eagles (Adam and Charlie) that ‘disappeared’ in suspicious circumstances on another grouse moor in Strathbraan, on the same morning as each other – they’re still the subject of a criminal investigation by the police (as are several other alleged offences uncovered during the police search).

The hen harrier that was found caught by its leg in a spring trap that had been set illegally next to its nest on a grouse moor in South Lanarkshire – it’s still the subject of a criminal investigation by the police.

The buzzard that was caught inside a legal cage trap on the same South Lanarkshire grouse moor but was then allegedly beaten to death by someone arriving on a quad bike after dark and using a key to open the padlocked door of the cage – it’s still the subject of a criminal investigation by the police.

The young golden eagle that was photographed flying around in the Cairngorms National Park with an illegal trap clamped to its leg – it’s still the subject of a criminal investigation by the police.

And as for the claim that estates have issued ‘unprecedented and emphatic rebuttals’ – er, there’s nothing unprecedented about that! Estates have always denied any involvement in any of the wildlife crimes that have been uncovered on their land – it’s what they do!

Propaganda paragraph 4:

Ah yes, convicted gamekeeper Alan Wilson, dubbed by the press as ‘Scotland’s worst wildlife killer‘. Yet again, the link between Wilson’s filthy criminal activity uncovered at Henlaw Wood and driven grouse shooting is kept well hidden. Yes, the Longformacus Estate was managed for low ground pheasant shooting but it was also managed for driven grouse shooting – a fact that Scottish Land & Estates doesn’t like to mention!

And speaking of Scottish Land & Estates and it’s so-called ‘full commitment’ to tackling wildlife crime, it still hasn’t said whether the Longformacus Estate was a member at the time these crimes were committed and if so, whether that membership has now been terminated? We asked SLE this question on 22 August 2019. Still waiting for an answer….

Propaganda paragraph 5:

Of course they continue to call for tougher penalties – how can they not? But they know as well as we do that the severity of the penalty is utterly irrelevant if the perpetrators of these crimes can’t even be identified, let alone prosecuted.

And as long as evidence continues to be destroyed and employers continue to shield their criminal employees by instructing them to give ‘no comment’ interviews to the police, nothing will change.

Fortunately, there are more and more savvy MSPs in the Scottish Parliament who have seen through the greenwash and know exactly what’s going on. If you think your MSP isn’t one of those, it’d be worth dropping them an email with a link to this blog.

Golden eagle with trap dangling from its leg: statement from Environment Cabinet Secretary

In August Police Scotland published a photograph of a young golden eagle that had been seen flying in the Cairngorms National Park with an illegally-set trap clamped to one of its legs.

This photograph, along with the Police’s appeal for information, went viral and was reported on news channels around the world (e.g. here), highlighting Scotland’s shameful record of illegal raptor persecution.

There’s been no further update on the fate of this eagle. Undoubtedly it’ll be dead and if it had been found by anyone associated with the criminal element of the game-shooting industry the corpse and trap will be long gone….nothing to see, deny, deny, deny, it was all a set up, fake news, it never happened, etc etc.

Meanwhile, those who aren’t fooled by the propaganda and know exactly what goes on on game shooting estates have been asking pertinent questions.

Step up Colin Beattie MSP (SNP: Midlothian North & Musselburgh) who lodged the following written question on 2 September 2019:

Question S5W-25069 – 

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of reports of a golden eagle found with an illegal trap on its legs, what action it is taking to protect wild birds as a matter of urgency ahead of the publication of the findings of the Grouse Moor Management Group (the Werritty report).

A brilliant question. Forget ‘waiting for Werritty‘ which has been the Scottish Government’s default response to every single raptor persecution crime since May 2017, Colin wants to know what action is being taken NOW.

The Government’s response came from Environment Cabinet Secretary Roseanna Cunningham on 12 Sept, as follows:

The Scottish Government is strongly committed to safeguarding the welfare of all animals, including wild birds such as raptors.

The illegal persecution of our birds of prey is an extremely serious issue and, as we announced in our Programme for Government for 2019-2020, we will bring forward a Bill increasing the maximum penalties for certain wildlife offences, including those associated with illegal killing or injuring of wild birds. This will deliver a commitment to implement the recommendation to increase wildlife crime penalties in the review undertaken by Professor Poustie.

We also committed in the Programme for Government that we will respond to the independent review on grouse moor management. The review is examining how we can ensure that grouse moor management is sustainable and complies with the law and it would not be appropriate to make decisions in advance of its report. We will carefully consider the recommendations in the report and other relevant evidence when deciding our response.

The measures on wildlife crime penalties build upon a range of other work we have undertaken to tackle this issue, including: supporting the use of satellite tags to monitor birds of prey; introducing new offences for harassing birds of prey or damaging their nesting places; setting up a poisons disposal scheme to remove poisons used to kill wild birds; strengthening Police Scotland wildlife crime resources, including in the Cairngorms; and introducing vicarious liability so that landowners can be held responsible for crimes against wild birds committed by their employees.

Roseanna’s response carefully avoids answering Colin’s question directly. Colin asked what Scot Gov was doing ‘as a matter of urgency ahead of the publication of the Werritty report’. Roseanna’s response confirms, in effect, that Scot Gov is doing absolutely nothing at all in advance of the Werritty report.

Splendid.

And guess what? We’re still waiting for Werritty, despite being told by Scot Gov at the end of July that the report was due ‘in the next few weeks’. What an embarrassing fiasco it has become.

Whoever wrote Roseanna’s response was surely having a laugh, judging by the last paragraph. Yes, Scot Gov has introduced new offences for harassing birds of prey or damaging their nesting places but as far as we’re aware, there have been no prosecutions for these offences even though there have been a number of reports of raptor nests being deliberately burned out on grouse moors.

And yes, Scot Gov set up a poisons disposal scheme (two, in fact) to remove poisons used to kill wild birds and yet still we’re seeing raptors being illegally poisoned and still gamekeepers are being found guilty of possessing these illegal poisons.

And yes, Scot Gov did support a pilot scheme for a number of police special constables (essentially volunteers working in their own time) in the Cairngorms National Park but there has been no (public) assessment of the scheme’s impact and raptor persecution crimes were still reported in the National Park during the scheme’s duration.

And yes, Scot Gov did introduce vicarious liability so that landowners could be held responsible for crimes against wild birds committed by their employees but so far this has only resulted in two successful convictions in 7.5 years and only last month yet another landowner avoided any charges of alleged vicarious liability and the Crown Office chose not to explain this decision to the public.

 

Raising awareness of eagle persecution at the Edinburgh International Book Festival

Many thanks to multi-award-winning author Gill Lewis for inviting us to share the stage with her at this year’s Edinburgh International Book Festival to raise awareness about eagle persecution on Scottish grouse moors.

Gill was there to present on a couple of her new books, including Eagle Warrior, which was inspired by the suspicious disappearance of golden eagle Fred in the Pentland Hills in 2018. She generously shared an hour-long slot so the audience could hear not just just about her book but also about the long-term killing of golden eagles on driven grouse moors and the Scottish Government’s apparent reluctance to do anything much about it.

[Photo by Olivia Robertson]

[Photo by Olivia Robertson]

Thanks also to Kirsten Lamb of publishers Barrington Stoke who turned up to the event with a big pile of postcards, pre-addressed to First Minister Nicola Sturgeon, allowing audience participants to draw pictures of eagles and write a personal message to Ms Sturgeon urging her to take action.

We ended up with 42 postcards, some created by children as young as five years old and others created by a Professor and Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh! It was brilliant to meet nine-year-old Freddie (now ten!) who’d previously drawn a postcard and had managed to get a response out of Ms Sturgeon, which is more than the rest of us had managed. Here are some of the cards drawn at the Festival:

At the end of the session a few of us decided to walk across the road to Bute House to hand deliver the cards but we were told at the door that we’d need to post them. The cards are all now individually stamped so hopefully someone in the First Minister’s office will make sure they land on the right desk. Perhaps Golden Eagle Species Champion Andy Wightman MSP should call in to her office and ask to see the cards and could put them on display somewhere at Holyrood, along with all the other cards that have been sent in in recent months.

Thanks again to Gill, Jane Sandell (Chair), Kirsten Lamb and everyone at the Book Festival who made us so welcome. Thanks also to the fantastically engaged audience who responded with such energy and purpose. We’re aware that some audience members were intent on taking cards back to their schools to encourage further participation.

Eagle persecution to be highlighted at Edinburgh International Book Festival

The illegal killing of eagles on Scottish grouse moors will reach a new audience on Friday when its highlighted in an hour-long session at the Edinburgh International Book Festival.

Multi-award-winning children’s author Gill Lewis will be featuring her latest book, Eagle Warrior, which was inspired by the suspicious disappearance of satellite-tagged golden eagle Fred in January 2018.

You can learn more about Gill in this fascinating recent podcast with Charlie Moores here

Gill will be joined on stage by raptor conservationist and RPUK blogger Ruth Tingay, who’ll place Fred’s suspicious disappearance in to context with all the other eagles that have either been found shot, trapped or poisoned on grouse moors in Scotland, or have ‘vanished’ on those moors without a trace, despite wearing the most advanced satellite trackers available.

Ruth and Gill be on stage in the Baillie Gifford Corner Theatre at 15.45hrs.

This event will also provide an excellent opportunity to hand out some more postcards, featuring a golden eagle photographed by Chris Packham, encouraging festival-goers to sign the petition to ban driven grouse shooting, currently at 73,470 signatures (100,000 needed).

Incidentally, if anyone would like one of these postcards to show to friends, family, work colleagues etc to encourage them to sign the petition, (just use the camera on your smartphone to scan the QR code & the link to the petition will appear), Wild Justice can send you one. Please follow the instructions here.

Wild Justice launches new petition to ban driven grouse shooting

Just in case anyone has missed this, yesterday Wild Justice (Mark Avery, Chris Packham & Ruth Tingay) launched a new petition calling for a ban on driven grouse shooting.

The petition was actually submitted six weeks ago but strange goings on at Westminster led to it being inexplicably delayed. By sheer coincidence, it went live yesterday afternoon at the same time as distressing news was emerging about a young golden eagle that had been photographed flying around Deeside in the Cairngorms National Park with an illegal trap clamped to its leg.

This is probably the fifth (I think) petition calling for a ban on driven grouse shooting – Mark Avery has previously raised three, then Gavin Gamble raised another one. This time though, it seems to have struck a chord with the British public. In just 24hrs of going live, the petition has received an incredible 27,000 signatures. People are clearly very very angry.

The speed with which people are signing this petition is sending a strong message all of its own:

We’ve had enough.

If you’d like to support it, please SIGN HERE and then share the petition with others.

Thank you

Young golden eagle flying around Cairngorms National Park with an illegal trap clamped to its leg

This is beyond what is tolerable.

Police Scotland have issued the following statement this evening:

Appeal to trace golden eagle in Aberdeenshire

Officers are appealing for information to help locate a Golden eagle which was seen flying in the Crathie area of Deeside with what appears to be a trap attached to its leg.

Concerns were raised about the first-year eagle on Thursday August 8, 2019, by a tourist and there are serious concerns for the bird’s welfare.  Enquiries are ongoing in conjunction with our partner agencies including the RSPB.

Sergeant Kim Wood said: “We would encourage anyone who has information which could help to locate this eagle to contact the Police on 101 or another relevant authority as soon as possible.”

ENDS

This is an area where illegally-set spring traps were found on a driven grouse moor in 2016 (here). There was no prosecution (see here).

The photograph of this eagle has re-ignited a fury that’s been gathering strength for several months.

It began with the suspicious disappearance of two of our satellite-tagged golden eagles, Adam and Charlie, who vanished on the same April morning, on the same grouse moor, within a few hours of one another.

A short time later we learned that an RSPB-satellite-tagged hen harrier had been found dead on a nearby grouse moor with its leg gripped by an illegal trap.

A few weeks later we learned of another hen harrier caught in an illegally-set spring trap. This time it was a breeding male and the trap had been set by his nest. He was still alive when raptor workers found him but in great distress. His trapped leg was almost severed. A specialist wildlife vet from the SSPCA did his very best to save this bird, but unfortunately the harrier’s injuries were just too severe and he didn’t make it. A second trap was found actually in the harrier’s nest, placed next to two eggs. There was no sign of the breeding female.

The Scottish Government’s response to these horrendous crimes? Absolute silence for weeks, and then acting under huge public pressure, a pathetic statement that said ‘We’ve got to wait for the Werritty Review‘ – that’s the report on grouse moor management that we’ve been waiting for since May 2017.

And now this. A young golden eagle flying around with an illegal trap clamped to its leg. It’s quite likely this eagle is already dead.

I’m sorry, Nicola Sturgeon, Roseanna Cunningham and Mairi Gougeon, as much as I admire you as strong, intelligent female politicians, I am no longer prepared to make excuses for you. It is your collective failure to act decisively that has led to these continuing atrocities.

If any blog readers share this sense of fury and exasperation, now is the time to act. Here are two things you can do:

  1. Send an email to First Minister Nicola Sturgeon and let her know, clearly but politely, that as the leader of the Scottish Government she needs to step up, show some leadership and take immediate action. Please send your emails to: FirstMinister@gov.scot
  2. Sign this new petition (launched tonight by Wild Justice) calling for a ban on driven grouse shooting – see here.

Thank you

Disaster hits South Scotland Golden Eagle Release Project

The South Scotland Golden Eagle Project has been hit by disaster in an unprecedented set of circumstances.

This is a project to translocate golden eagles from the Scottish Highlands and release them in south Scotland in an attempt to boost the remnant sub-population in the Borders and Dumfries & Galloway. The first three birds were released in 2018 and all have survived so far.

However, this year’s cohort of translocated eagles (three of them) were released in the last week and now one of them is dead, one of them is injured (but recaptured) and one of them is ‘missing’.

The project team believe that one of last year’s birds, a large female called ‘Beaky’, has been the source of the problem. She is known to have been 10 miles away from the release site when this year’s birds were released, and despite not having visited the project’s food dumps for months, she suddenly made a bee-line there and began to display dominant behaviour towards this year’s three (smaller) males. The males responded by cowering in nearby undergrowth and not visiting the food dumps.

One of the eagles has since been found dead and is currently undergoing a post mortem to find out the cause of death. It’s believed he had injuries but it’s not clear whether those injuries were the cause of death or whether he starved to death.

[This is the eagle that is believed to have died. Photo by South Scotland Golden Eagle Project]

A second eagle has been recaptured and is undergoing treatment. The project team has yet to decide the next course of action but if this eagle is to be released it’s probably safe to say it’ll be released at a different site.

The third eagle is apparently ‘missing’, although it is fitted with a satellite tag.

This situation is devastating for the project team (and for all those who helped source the eagles from the Highlands) and to be fair to them, it’s not something that could ever have been predicted. Adult eagles are well known for territorial disputes and these can sometimes result in death, but it’s exceptional for such a young bird (Beaky – one year old) to display such aggressive territorial behaviour that results in death. It’s virtually unheard of.

The future of the project will be under serious scrutiny as a result of this week’s events – it may be that a new release site has to be found – but that’s for another day. At the moment the priority is to rehabilitate the injured eagle and to locate the ‘missing’ eagle. Hopefully the project team is seeking expert help from those with experience of searching for ‘missing’ sat tagged raptors.

First Minister finally writes to 9 year old boy about golden eagle persecution

At the beginning of July the news emerged that two satellite-tagged golden eagles, named Adam and Charlie, had vanished from the same grouse moor, on the same morning, in highly suspicious circumstances (see here).

In response to this news, and prompted by children’s author Gill Lewis, quite a number of people drew pictures of golden eagles and sent them to First Minister Nicola Sturgeon, urging her to finally take action against the grouse shooting industry. One of those people was a nine-year-old boy called Freddie Blackman, who drew this fantastic picture:

After almost a month of silence from the First Minister, not just about these suspiciously ‘missing’ eagles but also about a ‘missing’ hen harrier and two other hen harriers (here & here) that were found on grouse moors with illegal spring traps gripping their legs, Nicola Sturgeon has now finally responded to Freddie with this letter:

Nine-year-old Freddie seems a pretty savvy young man and is unlikely to be impressed with The First Minister’s suggestion that she doesn’t yet know why golden eagles and other raptors are ‘going missing or being hurt’ but that she’s waiting for a report from a ‘special group of people’ (Prof Werritty et al) to find out!

He’ll also be pretty unimpressed if he checks out the SNH website, as Ms Sturgeon suggests, to find out ‘what we are doing to protect wildlife in Scotland’. Er, here’s what you’re doing, Nicola – thinking about putting ravens on the General Licence so that gamekeepers and farmers can slaughter as many as they like, when they like, without any level of accountability whatsoever.

Freddie wasn’t the only one who wrote to the First Minister urging action against the grouse shooting industry. Andy Wightman MSP, the Scottish Parliament’s Golden Eagle Species Champion also wrote to Ms Sturgeon following the disappearance of Adam & Charlie. He told her it was ‘long past time for reviews and inquiries’ and he asked for some very specific action:

  1. Provide clear leadership in condemning these organised crimes;
  2. Commit to legislate to ban or to regulate driven grouse-shooting;
  3. Meet with me and others concerned with raptor conservation to discuss how your Government can take further action to eradicate wildlife crimes;
  4. Invite the Justice Secretary to convene a high-level task force of law enforcement officials to step up prevention and detection of wildlife crime and improve the admissibility of evidence in court.

The First Minister’s response to Andy’s letter? To ignore his specific requests for action and to delegate back to Environment Cabinet Secretary Roseanna Cunningham who simply regurgitated the standard response that’s been sent to all those who wrote to the Scottish Government about the ongoing persecution of raptors on Scottish grouse moors:

Without a shadow of doubt, the Scottish Government’s continued procrastination about dealing with the criminals within the grouse shooting industry will be high up on the agenda of many of us attending the Revive conference today.

Watch this space……

Scottish Government’s response to ongoing illegal raptor persecution

Thanks to everyone who emailed First Minister Nicola Sturgeon following the recent raptor persecution atrocities that have been reported from a number of Scottish grouse moors ( a dead spring-trapped hen harrier found on a grouse moor in Perthshire (here), the suspicious disappearance, within a few hours of each other, of two satellite tagged golden eagles on another grouse moor in Perthshire (here), and another spring-trapped hen harrier found critically injured and distressed on a grouse moor in South Lanarkshire (here)).

After weeks of complete silence from Scottish Ministers (here, here, here), which, to be frank, has been utterly staggering and certainly not indicative of a Government ready to act, an impersonal, automated response letter is now being sent out to those who appealed for the Government to finally do something meaningful.

Here it is:

It’s a pathetically tragic response. There’s nothing in here we haven’t heard before, and even though the letter emphasises the previous steps taken in tackling these crimes, presumably to demonstrate the Government’s ‘determination’ to act, what it actually does is just highlight the length of time the Government has been tip-toeing around (since 2007) without producing any significant results at all.

The letter also includes the tired old line that we have to wait for the Werritty Review. We’ve been waiting for over two years and for all that time the Government has used it as an excuse to do absolutely nothing in the face of ongoing criminal activity. The excuse is tired, we’re tired of hearing it, and we’re tired of the criminals being allowed to run amok and suffer zero consequences.

Interestingly, this most recent letter is very similar to another letter that was sent to one of our blog readers in early July in response to the news in May that satellite-tagged hen harrier Marci had ‘disappeared’ in suspicious circumstances on a grouse moor in the Cairngorms National Park (here) and that four geese had been found poisoned on another grouse-shooting estate in the Cairngorms National Park after someone had used the banned pesticide Carbofuan (here).

But there’s a significant difference between the two letters:

“The evidence continues to point to the likelihood that these people are connected with grouse moor management“.

Gosh, who knew?

Both letters indicate that the Werritty Review is ‘due to report in the next few weeks’, even though both letters were written weeks apart.

According to Professor Werritty himself, the report will be submitted “during the summer“, which of course could mean anytime between now and when the clocks go back at the end of October.

How many more raptors do you think will have been illegally killed by the time the report is submitted? And how many more illegally killed even after the report has been submitted and the Government is ‘considering it carefully’?

Sorry if this blog sounds impatient. Actually, we’re not sorry at all. Our patience has been stretched to its limit and has now expired.

Why’s it so difficult to get the Government to act?