Rory Parker confessed to eliminating a sparrowhawk while used by the Moy Estate, near Inverness.
The estate is presently under licence limitations, enforced by NatureScot in June 2022 after the authorities offered “robust evidence” that birds had actually been killed or taken unlawfully on the land.
The RPSB said the conviction of Parker had actually been protected after the event was “directly filmed by RSPB Scotland Investigations staff on September 16, 2021”.
LEARN MORE: Bird of victim persecution stays at ‘high level’, RSPB report alerts
A video taken by the group reveals a plastic “decoy” owl on a fence post, which the RSPB said was probably being utilized to draw in birds of victim.
A man stood near the owl can be seen to raise a weapon and fire 2 shots, prior to rushing over moorland to gather a bird which is plainly still alive however hurt enough that it cannot get away.
Parker pled guilty and was fined £1500 at Inverness Sheriff Court on March 31. The RSPB said he is the 56th gamekeeper to be founded guilty of raptor persecution offenses in Scotland because 1990.
The charity even more said that its “Birdcrime” report for 2021 discovered that over two-thirds of verified raptor persecution events remained in relation to land handled for gamebird shooting.
All birds of victim are secured under the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 and eliminating them is punishable by a limitless fine and/or prison.
Scottish estates might target birds of victim for worry that they will precede and eliminate young grouse or consume eggs, minimizing their numbers and making shooting less successful.
Ian Thomson, the head of examinations for RSPB Scotland, said: “This conviction was completion outcome of excellent collaboration working in between Police Scotland, RSPB Scotland, the Wildlife DNA Forensics group at Science and Advice for Scottish Agriculture and the Wildlife and Environmental Crime Unit of COPFS [Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service].
“It is clear, however, with the shooting of a red kite on another Highland grouse moor earlier this week, and ongoing investigations into incidents on other estates, that current sanctions appear to be no deterrent to criminal activity by employees of the grouse shooting industry, with their onslaught against protected birds of prey continuing unabated.”
He included: “We hope that the Scottish Parliament expedites the passage of laws in the Wildlife Management and Muirburn Bill introducing proper regulation of that industry, where the right to shoot grouse is dependent on operating within the law.”
Dee Ward, vice policy chair at Scottish Land and Estates, said: “We condemn raptor persecution in the greatest possible terms and it is best and appropriate that anybody who devotes such an act is prosecuted and founded guilty.
“In this case, the unlawful persecution of a sparrowhawk near pheasant and partridge release pens is especially frustrating provided the development made by the sector in driving down raptor criminal offense in recent years and industry-wide condemnation of this inappropriate behaviour. We will continue to do all that we can to avoid, spot and condemn anybody who believes this type of abhorrent behaviour is appropriate.”
