A shot red kite has been found injured after ‘falling from the sky’ at the Royal Observatory in Greenwich Park, south east London.
It is currently being treated at the South Essex Wildlife Hospital where x-rays revealed multiple shotgun pellets lodged in its body. It’s not clear where or when this kite was shot.
Staff at the wildlife hospital posted the following details and photos on social media yesterday evening:
UPDATE 13th February 2023, 10am: The person who found this injured kite has provided some more background to the circumstances:
Last month I blogged about a poisoned red kite that had been found dead, laying close to a poisoned bait (a Lapwing, of all things) on Dava Moor, a grouse moor in the Scottish Highlands, just outside the boundary of the Cairngorms National Park (see here).
The poisoned red kite laying dead next to poisoned bait (a lapwing)
The poisoned red kite and the poisoned bait had been found after the kite’s satellite tag indicated the bird was dead on 21st May 2021 and Police Scotland launched an investigation. They collected the kite and the bait and sent them off to a specialist lab for toxicology analysis and they conducted a search of the grouse moor the following week. Toxicology tests confirmed the presence of poison in both the kite and the lapwing.
Sixteen months later in September 2022, Police Scotland notified the finder that ‘enquiries are complete, nobody has been charged and the case is now closed‘.
However, the police withheld the name of the poison, failed to issue an appeal for information, and failed to warn the public that dangerous poisons were in use in the area. The crime was only made public after a tip off to this blog. If I hadn’t been told about it, none of us would be any the wiser.
After writing the blog and criticising Police Scotland’s decision to keep this crime a secret, a journalist from The Strathy decided to submit a Freedom of Information request to Police Scotland to ask for more details. Last week they received a response:
The poison used to kill the red kite was Bendiocarb, a dangerously toxic substance so lethal that it has been an offence to even possess it in Scotland, let alone use it, since 2005.
The police also revealed that, “One individual was arrested, interviewed and released without charge due to insufficient evidence.
“No charges were ever brought because one of the main responsibilities of Police in Scotland is to investigate crimes and criminal offences and where there is a sufficiency of evidence, report the circumstances to the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service.
“Investigation of this particular incident did not provide sufficient evidence to charge any individual.
“To clarify, corroborative evidence is required to liable any charge in relation to the poisoning of birds of prey. The decision not to issue a press release was an operational one, balancing risk versus reward.
“To explain, the locus was remote, the bait and bird had been removed and no longer posed a risk.
“Given there was no nearby path it was deemed highly unlikely that any members of the public would have been able to provide useful or relevant witness evidence.
“From the main road nearest the locus any persons on the land would not have been able to identify any suspect given the distance involved. Further consideration was given in regards to the requirement not to alert the accused to the investigation at this time to aid further investigative strategies.
“Any intelligence identifying the methodology or focus of this activity could have been used to the advantage of the perpetrator to frustrate such investigations and/or seek support other individuals to do so.
“As such, any press release would have been detrimental to planned further enquiry and police activity.”
That’s just not acceptable. Yes of course, withhold details during the early stages of the investigation so as not to alert the offender, but not saying anything about it for 19 months after the offence was committed? That plays straight into the hands of the grouse-shooting industry whose representatives will (and have been) quite happily writing letters to national newspapers claiming that raptor persecution on grouse moors is an ‘historical issue’ and no longer a problem.
And even more importantly, it puts members of the public, and their pets, at risk of coming into contact with deadly poisons where they’d be least expecting it. Somebody had deliberately placed a deadly poisoned bait out in the open on that moor, with the intention to kill. Police Scotland stated, “the bait and bird had been removed and no longer posed a risk” but who knows how many more baits have been placed there? Where’s the duty of care from Police Scotland, to warn the public of this danger?
Police Scotland’s silence also misses an important opportunity to raise awareness amongst the public that these crimes ARE still being committed, and to encourage them to report anything suspicious that they may stumble across whilst out on the hills, as well as eroding public confidence and trust in the police’s interest in dealing with wildlife crime.
To be clear, I’m not criticising the initial police response to the report of the poisoned kite and the poisoned bait. By all accounts it was a rapid reaction and a thorough investigation by officers on the ground. This isn’t like Dorset Police’s botched response to a confirmed poisoning – where they refused to conduct a follow-up search to look for evidence after the discovery of a poisoned white-tailed eagle (see here). That the Dava Moor poisoning didn’t lead to a prosecution is not a reflection on the investigating officers at Police Scotland – everyone knows how difficult it is to get these despicable offenders into court.
But the decision, presumably made by senior officers, to keep quiet about it for so long? That sounds like a deliberate cover up to me.
I await with interest NatureScot’s decision about whether a General Licence restriction will be imposed on this grouse moor (see here).
This case exemplifies the importance of the Government’s forthcoming Wildlife Management (Grouse) Bill, where there is a proposal to utilise the civil burden of proof (the balance of probability) to determine whether a sanction should be imposed (i.e. the estate’s grouse shooting licence removed), rather than relying upon the criminal burden of proof (beyond reasonable doubt). Police Scotland has admitted, in its FoI response, that in this case corroborative evidence was required to progress any sanction. Had a grouse-shooting licence scheme been in place, the licence would probably, and in my opinion justifiably, have been revoked.
A wildlife crime officer from Lincolnshire Police is warning of the risk to humans, dogs and cats from the dangerous substances used to illegally kill birds of prey.
Detective Constable Aaron Flint, from the Lincolnshire Police Rural Crime Action Team, is quoted in an article published two days ago on the BBC News website (here), where he says he is currently investigating four cases of bird poisonings (some examples here and here).
Detective Constable Aaron Flint from Lincolnshire Police’s Rural Crime Action Team
“It’s too many and it’s only a small proportion of the number of birds killed,” he said.
The wildlife officer said the substances used posed a real danger to dogs and cats, as well as people.
“I honestly think that one day we are going to have a human fatality.”
“Often the offenders will get a pigeon or a pheasant – cut it open and rip out the flesh so the meat is exposed and sprinkle on some poison.
“The poisons are often blue or green – or some other bright colour a child may be attracted to, and I really fear that one day a child is going to come across this, [touch it] and put their fingers in their mouth.”
He said those involved often used poison in an attempt to protect game birds, pigeons and chickens and wild fowl, with offending often fuelled by money.
The BBC article also quotes Howard Jones, an investigator from the RSPB, after the RSPB identified Lincolnshire as a ‘national hotspot’ for bird of prey persecution and reiterated that incidents are often linked to the raptors being targeted to protect pheasants and partridges raised for organised shoots.
“The danger with poisons is that they are completely indiscriminate,” said Howard.
The investigations officer said they had seen a record number of incidents across the UK in recent years, including in Norfolk, Dorset and Yorkshire, with a significant number of reports currently being investigated in Lincolnshire.
According to Mr Jones, the “vast majority” of cases being dealt with by the courts involved gamekeepers.
He said the motivation to kill birds of prey was driven by the fact they were viewed as a predator of game birds, but the sentences handed out were often too lenient to act as a deterrent.
Cases involving poisons or illegal shooting should result in a jail sentence, he said.
“If there is someone out there placing poison baits in the open countryside anything that can come into contact with the poison is at risk,” he said.
“It is highly dangerous – some of the substances being used would be fatal to humans,” he added.
Well done to DC Aaron Flint and his colleagues at Lincolnshire Police. This is exactly the sort of proactive police messaging, and strong partnership-working, that should be routine rather than the exception.
Five days ago, 54 year old gamekeeper Paul Allen pleaded guilty to seven counts of wildlife, poisons and firearms offences, which he committed in March 2021 whilst working on the Shaftesbury Estate in Dorset (see here).
A poisoned red kite had been found dead on the estate in November 2020 (confirmed Bendiocarb poisoning) which triggered a multi-agency search of his premises in March 2021. During that search, investigators found nine dead buzzards (six confirmed shot, the remains of 3 others were pulled out of the ashes of a bonfire), three lots of banned poisons (Bendiocarb, Strychnine and Cymag), a loaded shotgun propped up behind his kitchen door (instead of being inside a locked gun cabinet) and some shotgun ammunition, for which he didn’t have a licence, was found in an unlocked outbuilding.
Four of the nine dead buzzards found by investigators. Photo: RSPB
Allen’s court hearing last week generated widespread local, regional and national media coverage so I fully expected to see full and frank statements of condemnation of his crimes by the game-shooting industry – you know, the industry that claims to have ‘zero tolerance’ of raptor persecution.
I was especially interested in the responses of those game-shooting organisations that serve on the national Raptor Persecution Priority Delivery Group (RPPDG). One of the main stated objectives of the RPPDG is to raise awareness of raptor persecution crimes with the wider public and to encourage people to report such crimes to the police.
Five days on from Allen’s multiple guilty pleas, here’s what those organisations had to say in condemnation:
British Association for Shooting & Conservation (BASC) – nothing
Countryside Alliance – nothing
Country, Land & Business Association (CLA) – nothing
National Gamekeepers Organisation (NGO) – nothing
Oh, no, hang on a minute, something was posted on the National Gamekeepers Organisation website, the day after Allen’s guilty pleas, as follows, under the headline, ‘Gamekeeper has NGO membership suspended‘:
Does this statement of ‘membership suspension’ relate to gamekeeper Paul Allen? Who knows? It’s deliberately cryptic and any casual visitor to the NGO membership wouldn’t have a scoobies to who or what this statement referred. I think that’s the intention. ‘Don’t draw attention to our criminal members and certainly don’t condemn the crimes this one has committed and subsequently admitted to after being caught with all those dead raptors, banned poisons and unsafe firearms and ammunition because it’ll tarnish the image we’ve been so desperately trying to present to the world‘.
It’s been suggested to me that perhaps all these organisations are waiting to make their statements of ‘zero tolerance’ until after Allen has been sentenced next month. Perhaps they are. Although I remember the same excuse was suggested when gamekeeper John Orrey was convicted last year and then sentenced at a later date. How many of them condemned his criminal activities (beating buzzards to death with a stick) after he was sentenced? Take a look for yourselves (here).
I don’t know who’s advising the PR strategy of the game-shooting industry but I suspect the decent, law-abiding members of these shooting organisations will be furious that their so-called leaders are refusing to distance them from the criminals within.
So, the illegal killing continues, the shooting industry organisations say nothing, and public anger grows.
Thanks, BASC, CA, CLA, NGO et al – this is only heading in one direction and you’re all helping it reach the end game so much more quickly than we could get it there on our own. Cheers.
You’d think, after the high profile conviction of gamekeeper Paul Allen two days ago, who pleaded guilty to multiple counts of wildlife, poisons and firearms offences on the Shaftesbury Estate (see here), that Dorset Police might have issued a statement.
You might think that Dorset Police would have wanted to publicise the conviction, not only to inform the public that a conviction had been secured thanks to the hard work and expertise of its wildlife crime officer Claire Dinsdale and the other partner agencies that Claire drafted in (National Wildlife Crime Unit, RSPB Investigations and Natural England), but also to send a message of deterrence to any other person thinking of committing these crimes.
It’s not as though Dorset Police doesn’t routinely publish statements on its website about other forthcoming court appearances and subsequent convictions for a wide range of offences such as assault, drug supply, sexual assault, murder, driving offences, fatal collisions etc (e.g. see here, here, here, here, here, here, here) and yet Dorset Police has remained tight-lipped about how this long and complex investigation, led by one of its own officers (the now former WCO Claire Dinsdale), resulted in seven guilty pleas at court on Wednesday.
Why would they want to keep quiet about that, do you think? It’s almost as though Dorset Police isn’t that bothered about raptor persecution, a police national wildlife crime priority.
*Multiple illegally killed birds of prey, six of which were confirmed shot and one poisoned, were uncovered by Dorset Police and the RSPB on the Shaftesbury Estate near Wimborne St Giles
*The recently published RSPB Birdcrime report identified Dorset as the second worst county in the UK for confirmed bird of prey incidents in 2021
*The conservation charity is calling for greater regulation of larger scale pheasant shoots in order to help address the climate and nature crises and to reduce these appalling crimes against birds of prey
At Weymouth Magistrates’ Court today (4 January 2023), Paul Allen, 64, of Brockington Down, Wimborne St Giles, pleaded guilty to multiple charges of raptor persecution and related offences.
The Dorset gamekeeper will be sentenced on 16 February.
Dorset Police were first alerted in November 2020 when a member of the public found a dead red kite lying close to a dead rat on a private pheasant shoot on the Shaftesbury Estate, near Wimborne St Giles. Toxicology examinations confirmed the presence of the highly toxic pesticide bendiocarb in both species. Bendiocarb, which in some forms has now been banned, has been persistently abused for the illegal poisoning of birds of prey and other animals for years. It is believed the rat was laced with the poison and deliberately placed as a poisoned bait.
A multi-agency search of Allen’s home and surrounding land was undertaken in March 2021, led by Dorset Police and assisted by the National Wildlife Crime Unit (NWCU), Natural England and RSPB Investigations. Officers discovered six dead buzzards (which, following official post-mortem, were confirmed to have been shot) near the remains of a bonfire, including one that was suspected as having been shot within the preceding 24 hours. Tragically, this bird also contained shot from two previous shooting incidents, which it had survived.
Dorset Police, NWCU, Natural England & RSPB investigators at the scene where four of the nine buzzards were found. Photo: RSPB
Four of the six shot buzzards found by investigators. Photo: RSPB
Two more shot buzzards found during the search. The buzzard on the top was believed to have been shot less than 24 hours before being found. Photo: RSPB
An avian specialist at the Natural History Museum examined the remains of the fire, which was collected by investigators and confirmed the presence of at least three further buzzards.
CSI officer from Dorset Police examining the remains of three buzzards on a bonfire. Photo: RSPB
A banned product containing the pesticide bendiocarb was found in Allen’s vehicle and in an insecure outbuilding, along with two bottles of strychnine: another deadly poison banned in 2006. Two full tins of Cymag – a lethal fumigant pesticide banned since 2004 – were also found outside under an upturned pond liner.
Officers from Dorset Police & Natural England with two containers of Cymag. Photo: RSPB
Sachet of banned pesticide Ficam W (Bendiocarb) found in unlocked outbuilding. Photo: RSPB
All birds of prey are protected under the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 and killing them is against the law, punishable by an unlimited fine and/or jail.
Thomas Grose, RSPB Investigations Officer, said: “Finding so many illegally killed buzzards was truly shocking. This is yet another example of a gamekeeper being prosecuted in connection with raptor persecution offences on land managed for gamebird shooting.
“In addition to all the agencies involved in this case, we would particularly like to thank Claire Dinsdale, formerly of Dorset Police, and currently with the NWCU, an exemplary officer who has devoted her career to tackling wildlife crime.”
Nationally, the RSPB’s recently published Birdcrime report for 2021 found that over two-thirds of confirmed raptor persecution incidents were in relation to land managed for gamebird shooting and identified Dorset as the county with the second-highest number of confirmed raptor persecution incidents in the UK that year.
Mark Thomas, UK Head of Investigations at the RSPB, said: “Tragically, only days into the New Year, we already have yet another highly significant bird of prey persecution case before a court. This is a national problem which requires urgent Government attention and solutions, as identified in their own report published in December 2021.
“In the time of a climate and nature emergency there can be no place for raptor persecution. We are therefore calling on Government to better enforce existing regulations relating to pheasant shoots, and to consider the introduction of new sanctions to act as a meaningful deterrent to such appalling crimes.”
The guilty pleas were –
· Two charges of possession of six dead common buzzards and remains of three more in March 2021
· Three charges of the keeping of banned pesticides (strychnine, bendiocarb and Cymag) in March 2021
· Two charges of failing to comply with conditions of shotgun and firearms certificates in March 2021
Charges relating to the killing of a red kite were dropped.
ENDS
The RSPB has also released a few minutes of video footage from the search – well worth viewing. You can find it on the ITV News website here
Further to my blog post on January 1st 2023 (here), this morning gamekeeper Paul Scott Allen, 54, of Baileys Hill, Brockington, near Wimbourne in Dorset, has pleaded guilty to seven charges of raptor persecution, poisons and firearms offences whilst he was working on a privately-run gamebird shoot located on the Shaftesbury Estate in March 2021.
Following the discovery of a poisoned red kite on the estate in November 2020, a multi-agency raid led by Dorset Police’s (now former) wildlife crime officer Claire Dinsdale took place in March 2021 (see here) where the corpses of six dead buzzards were found by a pen behind his house (tests later showed they had all been shot, including one that was was estimated to have been shot in the last 24hrs). Officers also found the remains (bones) of at least three more buzzards on a bonfire.
A loaded shotgun was found propped up behind a kitchen door (!) and 55 rounds of ammunition were found in a shed. Both the gun and the ammunition should have been inside a locked cabinet, by law. The ammunition was not covered by Allen’s firearms certificate.
Officers also found a number of dangerous, and banned, chemicals, including two bottles of Strychnine, two containers of Cymag and a packet of Ficam W (Bendiocarb) in various locations, including in a vehicle used by Allen.
Four of six illegally shot buzzards found during the police raid. Photo by RSPB
The seven guilty pleas included two counts of possessing a live or dead bird, or parts thereof, one charge of failing to comply with the conditions of a shotgun certificate, one charge of failing to comply with the conditions of a firearms certificate, one count of possessing a regulated substance without a license, one count of failing to comply with regulations in accordance with the Plant Protection Products (Sustainable Use) Regulations 2012 and one charge of contravening a health and safety regulations.
A number of charges were dropped prior to the hearing. More on that shortly.
Sentencing was adjourned for reports and Allen is due back in court on 16th February 2023.
There is plenty to discuss about this case and I will do that over the coming days. In the meantime, press attendance at court was strong so I’ll add the links to the various reports as they come out, below.
RSPB press statement (includes crime scene photos) here
UPDATE 4th January 2023: The estate that Dorset Police refused to search after discovery of poisoned eagle is the same location where gamekeeper was today convicted of multiple raptor persecution crimes (here)
UPDATE 16th February 2023: Convicted Dorset gamekeeper Paul Allen due to be sentenced today (here)
UPDATE 16th February 2023: Criminal Dorset gamekeeper Paul Allen receives suspended custodial sentence despite committing multiple wildlife, poisons and firearms offences (here)
More detail has emerged about the discovery of five dead birds of prey and two magpies found in suspicious circumstances and the subject of an appeal for information yesterday by Lincolnshire Police’s Wildlife Crime Team (see here).
The five raptors are reported to be three barn owls, one tawny owl and a red kite.
The police appeal for information contained very little detail yesterday – no date of discovery, no specific location and no species identification, although the dismembered wings of a barn owl could be seen in the accompanying police photograph:
Many thanks to BBC reporters Simon Hare and Paul Murphy for providing a bit more information:
If you have any information that could assist the police investigation please contact DC Aaron Flint at Lincolnshire Police, either by calling 101 and quoting incident number 22000747007 or by emailing aaron.flint@lincs.police.uk
UPDATE 27th May 2023: Update from Lincolnshire Police on discovery of raptor body parts found in ditch (here)
The Yorkshire Dales National Park Authority (YDNPA) held a Board meeting earlier this week to discuss proposals for determining several ‘priority species’ that need additional help to thrive within the National Park.
The draft list includes a number of raptor species, including hen harrier, red kite and peregrine. There is a long and well-documented history of the persecution of all three species within the Yorkshire Dales National Park and the neighbouring Nidderdale AONB in areas dominated by driven grouse moors (e.g. see here and here) so it’s no surprise to see these three species highlighted as needing additional conservation measures.
Photo by Ruth Tingay
The YDNPA meeting on 13th December started with a presentation by Dr Tony Serjeant, the Senior Wildlife Conservation Officer, outlining the Authority’s proposals and then Board members were invited to comment and ask questions of YDNPA staff, prior to a vote.
The comments of two Board members, Councillor Yvonne Peacock and farmer Allen Kirkbride, were astounding. And I mean absolutely gob-smacking in the extent of their ignorance. That these two individuals should be considered competent to serve on the YDNPA Board to discuss matters of environmental significance is extremely worrying. I don’t doubt that they have important experience and expertise in some other areas, but their ecological illiteracy is just embarrassing.
Some of the comments were picked up and published in an article on the website Richmondshire Today (here) but it’s worth listening to them in full and in the context of the wider discussion. Fortunately, the YDNPA records its meetings and an audio recording of this particular discussion can be heard here.
First up was Councillor Yvonne Peacock, speaking about the inclusion of the house sparrow on the list of potential priority species (recording starts at 23.25 mins):
“We’ve got the house sparrow there, and yet we’ve got these great big sparrowhawks that take every garden bird imaginable, no doubt the house sparrow as well. How do we actively, you know, preserve these birds when we have like a conflict in, well the Government’s law I should say, I just find that it is so difficult, so, that’s probably my ignorance, but it’s just a question really”.
Then we had Wensleydale farmer Allen Kirkbride, responding to Tony Serjeant’s comment that raptor persecution in the National Park needs to end, and highlighting that although red kites have been seen prospecting and flying over the National Park, there still aren’t any records of breeding attempts (recording starts at 34.23 mins):
“Hen harriers, John, is it true that there’s certain [inaudible] they breed them and let, er, I think there was four hen harriers, and let them go [Ed: I presume he means hen harrier brood meddling]. The story is that two of them were later traced to the south of Spain, another one to the south of England, and another one disappeared. The thing is about letting these birds of prey go, especially hen harriers, it’s not natural country for them, we’ve never had hen harriers up here. You can introduce them but obviously they don’t want to stay. It’s fine making, you know, a lot of noise about hen harriers but they don’t, you know, you can let them go but if they don’t want to stay they won’t stay.
Earlier this year, red kites, we did have round us up to eight and it was quite a sight, but they’ve all flown off elsewhere and you know, I don’t, you know, they say all this PR, somebody’s [inaudible] with them, I don’t think they are, I just don’t think they want to stay around this area ‘cos it’s not natural area for them, and they just fly away, on, you know, to their own accord”.
Christ on a bike! Can somebody please educate Mr Kirkbride about hen harrier dispersal strategies? And about the extent of raptor persecution inside the Yorkshire Dales National Park. Ironically, this Board meeting took place one day before North Yorkshire Police issued the appeal for information about four hen harrier chicks that had been stamped to death in their nest, on a grouse moor, inside the National Park.
All credit to Dr Tony Serjeant, who managed to respond to both Board members without any hint of frustration. There were strong similarities to the Cairngorms National Park Authority Board meeting I blogged about last year (see here) where CNPA staff had to deal with some near-hysteria Board members’ responses when they learned that tackling intensive gamebird management was in the Park’s plan.
Tony Serjeant also told Mr Kirkbride that hen harriers were currently breeding in the YDNP but he only had figures from about two years ago. He said he couldn’t provide details of the current status of hen harriers in the Yorkshire Dales National Park because “Natural England seems to be rather reticent in letting us have the latest [hen harrier] figures for what’s going on, and that’s a little bit disappointing“.
Perhaps Natural England only provides data to organisations that have ‘donated‘ some cash??
Anyway, the outcome of the YDNPA Board meeting was that the approach taken to identify the priority species was approved by the Board and a final list will be published in June 2023 (see YDNPA press release here).
Forestry and Land Scotland (FLS) has granted a controversial licence permitting Moy Estate gamekeepers, and others from the Three Straths Fox Control Association, to hunt and kill foxes on Scotland’s national forest estate, partly for the benefit of privately-owned grouse shooting estates, including Moy Estate.
This is the same Moy Estate that has been at the centre of police investigations into alleged raptor persecution crimes for over a decade (e.g. see here) and is currently serving a three-year General Licence restriction, imposed by NatureScot, after evidence of wildlife crime (raptor persecution) was again uncovered on the estate.
This is a map I produced a few years ago showing reported raptor persecution incidents in the region between 2005-2016. There have been many more since.
Wildlife campaigners are understandably furious about this decision, not least because FLS’s own experts strongly advised against it due to, amongst other things, the potential for illegal activity.
Journalist Billy Briggs has written an excellent article, based on Freedom of Information responses I received this autumn. His article is published today by The Ferret (here, behind a pay wall) and also here in The National, as follows:
LICENCES for a foot pack to kill foxes were issued by Forestry and Land Scotland despite strong objections from internal experts who feared there was potential for “illegal activity” and protected species such as badgers to be disturbed.
A foot pack – in contrast to traditional fox hunting with riders on horses – is where a huntsman, accompanied by colleagues acting as beaters, uses hounds to chase foxes out from cover to then be shot.
Critics who want hunting with packs of dogs banned in Scotland are urging Scottish Government ministers to outlaw foot packs as well as mounted hunts.
The Ferret previously revealed that foxes were being chased by hounds and shot by foot packs in forests used by the public.
Our investigation prompted angry responses from wildlife groups who have condemned Forestry and Land Scotland (FLS) once again for issuing more licences. FLS is responsible for managing and promoting Scotland’s national forest estate.
A freedom of information request was submitted to FLS by campaign group, Raptor Persecution. The reply revealed internal discussions at FLS in September and October after Three Straths Fox Control Association (Three Straths) applied for licences for fox control in the south Inverness area.
The documents, passed to The Ferret, showed that FLS experts strongly advised against the foot pack being allowed to hunt.
Map showing the woodland where FLS has permitted the hunting & killing of foxes during the 2022-2023 season. Released to RPUK under FoI.
The licences were issued, however, prompting condemnation by critics. They included the League Against Cruel Sports Scotland which said it was “quite staggering” FLS granted permission in the face of “vehement concerns” by its own staff.
In reply, FLS said it appreciates that fox control is a “contentious issue” but under existing legislation the activity is legal in Scotland and “closely regulated”.
Three Straths told The Ferret it always adheres to the law to “ensure public safety and to avoid non-target species”, adding that it provides a “public service at no cost to the public purse”.
The licence application said Three Straths represented a “number of sporting estates” seeking to hunt foxes on the Moy, Farr, and Dalmagarry estates. Each hunt would typically involve 30 people including local gamekeepers, 20 to 30 guns, 15 hounds and a huntsman.
The hounds are used to flush the fox from cover to a line of waiting guns where the animal is shot.
The foot packs are overseen by a wildlife team at FLS, but some staff still opposed Three Straths’ application.
Internal documents revealed one person wrote: “As a minimum we should request a protocol for how the operators (the foot pack) will deal with encounters with protected species. This was asked for at the last permission request but I have not yet seen it. As discussed before, without this I feel the activity cannot be done without potentially disturbing legally protected species and could lead to an illegal activity.”
They added: “As this is a known activity any disturbance could be classed as reckless under the law and would constitute an offence. FLS as the landowners would also be liable for allowing the activity to take place. Given the risks, lack of mitigation information and lack of rationale for why the activity is needed, I would strongly advise it is not allowed.”
Another expert — a species ecologist — also objected and wrote: “As I [sic] have pointed out several times previously, fox ‘control’ at this time of year has no impact on fox density the following spring. This is a matter of scientific fact. If the intention is to reduce (assumed) fox impacts on the shootable ‘surplus’ of grouse in 2020, it is a pointless exercise.”
They added: “Furthermore, I am not aware of any evidence that these foxes actually eat game birds on adjacent estates. To sanction this controversial activity without any evidence of an actual problem is inadvisable. For the record, and for the reasons I have listed in previous communications, I reiterate my advice that we should not give permission for this activity.”
It was also noted that internal concerns had been raised in previous years regarding requests by Three Straths to hunt, which were “not adequately addressed”.
Staff also pointed out that foxes are “part of the forest ecosystem” and “we should not be unsustainably removing any native species”. They said: “As we have no idea of the current population (no surveys have been undertaken) then effectively this could extirpate foxes on our land. We know foxes play a valuable role in keeping populations of other predators in check and in reducing rabbit and hare populations, thereby reducing damage to restock sites.”
Concerns were also raised over public safety and “verbal assurances” given by Three Straths that hounds would only chase foxes. There was a “real risk” that a bolting fox could go down the entrance to a protected species den or sett to escape the dogs, it was noted, and people firing guns on a badger sett “would be a disturbance in itself”.
Dr Ruth Tingay, of Raptor Persecution, who submitted the freedom of information request, pointed out that Moy Estate is currently serving a three-year general licence restriction, imposed by NatureScot, for wildlife crimes against birds. Moy Estate reportedly said it was extremely disappointed by the decision and would be considering an appeal. [Ed: Moy Estate has already lost its appeal against the General Licence restriction – see here].
Tingay said: “The rationale behind the restriction is that NatureScot can no longer trust Moy Estate to comply with the terms of the general licences after evidence of raptor persecution was provided by Police Scotland.
“So why on earth has FLS entrusted Moy Estate to comply with the terms of a licensed fox hunt, in a public forest, with what looks like minimal oversight and scrutiny? Don’t these licensing agencies talk to one another?”
Bob Elliot, director of the animal welfare charity, OneKind, argued that FLS fox control policy should reflect the views of the Scottish public who “overwhelmingly do not support fox hunting”.
He added: “It is incredibly disappointing to see that once again, despite several serious objections raised internally by Forestry and Land Scotland staff, FLS has granted permission to allow foot packs to kill foxes in Scotland’s public forests this winter.
“We know from our previous freedom of information requests to FLS that many of the concerns raised by FLS staff, including the non-necessity of fox hunting foot packs, the importance of foxes to the ecosystem, and the threat to other wild animals, have in fact been raised before.”
His views were echoed by Robbie Marsland, director of the League Against Cruel Sports Scotland, who said it was “quite staggering that despite vehement concerns” the licenses were issued.
He added: “The situation at FLS is yet another reason why it is imperative the new Hunting with Dogs Bill passes through parliament in the most robust form possible, ensuring hunting with dogs is really banned in Scotland once and for all.
“The existing legislation is so full of loopholes it isn’t worth the paper it’s written on and time and time again we’re seeing those who wish to hunt wild mammals with dogs for fun, simply ignoring the fact this activity is supposed to be illegal.”
A spokesperson for Forestry and Land Scotland said that in “all aspects” of its land management activities it has a duty to “follow the law and existing policies” when considering requests. “Only if there was a change in law and Scottish Government policy would we be in a position to review our procedures,” the spokesperson continued.
‘ORDINARILY FLS only controls foxes to meet specific conservation interests. However, we also appreciate that neighbouring land managers’ priorities might differ from our own and will assist where it is deemed appropriate. We continue to have our own staff monitor fox control activities.”
A spokesperson for Three Straths accused FLS experts of having a “personal bias” against predator control, adding that none of the objectors had come out with the foot pack to witness a hunt for themselves, despite being asked.
“We always have FLS staff out with us on days we are in the forest and in the 25 years I have been involved, not one of them has raised any complaint about our practices,” said the spokesperson. “On the point about controlling foxes at the time of year we do, making no difference. That is nonsense, areas where foxes are controlled all year round have a far smaller fox population and ground nesting birds breed far more successfully because of the control.
“We also used to hunt into the spring and summer on FLS land which did do a lot of good but we were stopped by the same ecologist who quotes that we are hunting at the wrong time of year now. His comment about no evidence to suggest foxes eat ground nesting birds just goes to show how far removed from reality some of these people can be.”
The spokesperson continued and said Three Straths controls foxes for the “good of all ground nesting birds”, not just game birds. “Many of these species are in dire straights [sic] at the moment and need all the help to survive they can get,” they added.
“Upland sporting estates are their last stronghold and their last chance of survival.”
A Scottish Land & Estates spokesperson said: “The predation of wild birds such as capercaillie, black grouse, curlew, golden plover, grey partridge, lapwing and oystercatcher continues to be a huge problem, with widespread declines in populations of these birds across Scotland since the 1960s.
“The control of foxes, alongside other predators such as crows and pine martens, is important in improving the breeding success of these birds. Predator control takes place when it is deemed necessary and in accordance with regulations.”
The Hunting With Dogs (Scotland) Bill – published in February and currently going through the Scottish Parliament – seeks to replace a widely criticised 2002 law which aimed to ban fox hunting in Scotland.
Both Farr Estate and Dalmagarry Estate were asked to comment. We were unable to contact Moy Estate directly so made an indirect approach through Three Straths.
ENDS
This isn’t the first time that a licence permitting fox hunting in public forests around Moy has been a source of controversy. Last year, Freedom of Information requests to FLS by campaigners from animal welfare charity OneKind revealed that FLS staff suspected that gamekeepers were visiting the forests to look for fox dens to block up, which also happened to be beside Schedule 1 raptor nests, some of which have been repeatedly attacked in previous years (see here).
And of course it’s not just FLS turning a blind eye to wildlife crimes uncovered on and around Moy Estate (e.g. see here, here, here).
Raptor Persecution UK 