· Protected birds of prey proceed to be illegally shot, trapped and poisoned in Scotland – in keeping with the RSPB’s newest Birdcrime report
· Land managed for gamebird capturing is the basis of the problem with a number of high-profile circumstances coming to gentle
· We welcome Scottish Authorities’s dedication within the Programme for Authorities to sort out fowl of prey crime by introducing a licensing scheme for pushed grouse capturing. This technique must be sturdy and act as a real deterrent to longstanding unlawful behaviours related to pushed grouse moor administration
The RSPB’s Birdcrime 2021 report, revealed right now, reveals 108 confirmed incidents of fowl of prey persecution within the UK, together with a variety of important circumstances in Scotland.
Regardless of all birds of prey being protected by legislation because the Fifties, and extra just lately below the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981, they’ve continued to be shot, trapped or poisoned. Scientific papers, intelligence stories, eye witness testimony and satellite tv for pc tagging research of species similar to hen harrier and golden eagle have confirmed that the annual Birdcrime totals are solely the tip of a far bigger iceberg, with many killings going undetected and unreported.
In 2021, over two thirds (71%) of all confirmed incidents of raptor persecution throughout the UK have been linked to land managed for gamebird capturing.
In an appalling instance, in Aberdeenshire, a golden eagle was discovered poisoned, mendacity beside a useless hare laced with the identical lethal banned pesticide, on a grouse capturing property with a historical past of raptor persecution, inside the Cairngorms Nationwide Park. Extremely, a minimal of 68 golden eagles have been illegally killed in Scotland since 1981, the overwhelming majority falling sufferer to unlawful poisoning on grouse moors.
Raptor persecution additionally continues to have an effect on the restoration of hen harriers, a uncommon moorland species for which Scotland is a stronghold. Surveys and inhabitants research over three many years have recognized prison persecution as the primary issue supressing the UK’s inhabitants.
In 2021 satellite tv for pc tag information revealed that three hen harriers, all from a small breeding inhabitants in southern Scotland, disappeared in 2021 in suspicious circumstances indicating they’d doubtless been illegally killed in areas managed for pushed grouse capturing.
The abuse of newer types of extra poisonous rodenticides (rat poison) to focus on birds of prey can also be, in keeping with the report, changing into an rising concern. This represents a hazard not only for birds of prey however for different wildlife, folks and pets who might come into contact with these lethal substances. The RSPB is asking for adjustments to authorised outside use of those merchandise together with tighter controls to forestall entry by wildlife.
Ian Thomson, RSPB Scotland Head of Investigations, mentioned: “12 months after 12 months the patterns of crimes towards birds of prey are depressingly constant. Scotland’s raptors are being shot, poisoned, trapped, or their nesting makes an attempt destroyed, the place land is intensively managed for pushed grouse capturing. We’re additionally seeing satellite-tagged birds disappearing in suspicious circumstances. Whereas now we have recommended steps taken by successive Scottish governments, Police Scotland and NatureScot to attempt sort out this concern, now we have lengthy argued that till the grouse capturing business was regulated, these crimes will proceed. That is clearly borne out by the figures we’re publishing right now. With this in thoughts, we warmly welcome grouse moor licensing being a part of the Scottish Authorities’s present legislative programme and sit up for contributing positively to its progress.”
Beccy Speight, RSPB chief government, mentioned: “The proof reveals that the unlawful persecution of birds of prey – which is time and time once more linked to gamebird capturing – is holding again the restoration of some key species. This 12 months’s Birdcrime report is one other reminder of the appalling strategies deployed by some, and why there’s a want for swift and efficient change in our countryside.”
