• Welcome to BirdForum, the internet's largest birding community with thousands of members from all over the world. The forums are dedicated to wild birds, birding, binoculars and equipment and all that goes with it.

    Please register for an account to take part in the discussions in the forum, post your pictures in the gallery and more.
ZEISS DTI thermal imaging cameras. For more discoveries at night, and during the day.

Death Toll from Ross-shire poisoning rises to 16! (1 Viewer)

It absolutely shocking. I'm sick and tired of hearing the same shit, its almost a weekly occurrence now, we need to stamp down on the bastards who do this and hard.

Damian
 
http://raptorpersecutionscotland.wordpress.com/2014/04/01/ross-shire-massacre-death-toll-rises-to-16/

This is an absolute outrage, disgusting and I'd like to get my hands on the bastard who did it. We often pass Conan Bridge and it's always nice to see the Kites in the area..not anymore, that must be a huge percentage of the local population exterminated.

Words fail me - well, almost: What on earth is the Police team doing about this. They really should get their act together and show they have teeth! - as well as another part of the anatomy,,,, They must know which estate is involved in this outrage. Grrh!!

Sandra
 
This time last year, 32 separate sightings of Red Kites. We were celebrating the high numbers.

This year I have seen 4 separate sightings. 4.

That's including my Chanonry Point sighting yesterday.
 
They probably do,but I would expect that the people responsible for the outrage are well connected with the local masons.So expect a cover up.

Steve.
 
Proving who the culprits are in wildlife crimes is the tricky part. It is easy to moan that the police aren't doing enough, but realistically given the landscape of the local area and the possibility of laying poisoned bait anywhere, where it or the after-effects may or may not ever be found and then managing to gather enough evidence to be able to even point a finger at those responsible, let alone get a conviction is a monumental task. That the police manage to ever get convictions for wildlife crimes is something that should be, and is, rightly commended.

The Red Kites (especially) are a tourist attraction, and bring in money to the wider community, not just to the estates (unlike grouse shooting where accommodation etc is all in-house). The local police will be doing their best to bring the culprits to court. It is damaging to the reputation of the local area and the tourist trade.

Interesting blog-post from someone who probably knows more about the ins and outs of cases like this than, I suspect, most of us on here, former wildlife crime officer PC Alan Stewart who has written a few books on the subject of policing wildlife crime in Britain.

http://wildlifedetective.wordpress.com/
 
Thats a smart link, appreciated.

As for the Policing, a thankless task indeed. Moan at by one and all but never for the same reasons. Not a job id like.
 
Personally I think it's time to cause a problem for the shooters, maybe go out and photograph them as they hate being watched. Fox hunting was banned because it was a popular decision for the labour government to make. They made the decision because they were aware of how most people felt about the sport, maybe we’re just too easy going and don’t cause enough fuss.

The people who are poisoning wildlife will only stop because they either want to or have to. At the minute neither is true, they don't want to stop and they don't have to.
 
If they'd put more resources into investigating crime and fewer into persecuting motorists I'd have more sympathy. John

Considering the remarkably high number of motorists who find driving or parking cars rocket science, the remarkably low number of cases proven to be 'persecution' of any kind, and the absence of cited evidence (anecdotes don't count either way) of the inappropriate division of resources in traffic or crime divisions, it's a great subject for the pub.... What we on this forum should be concerned about is that the pressure on police budgets, allied to manpower cuts, will obliterate the wildlife crime units.

Police Scotland is now a single force, and is undergoing the upheavals that force mergers inevitably bring, but there should now exist the best possibility of a coherent wildlife crime policy, unlike the mishmash across the various police forces in England, but won't hold my breath.
MJB
 
Considering the remarkably high number of motorists who find driving or parking cars rocket science, the remarkably low number of cases proven to be 'persecution' of any kind, and the absence of cited evidence (anecdotes don't count either way) of the inappropriate division of resources in traffic or crime divisions, it's a great subject for the pub.... What we on this forum should be concerned about is that the pressure on police budgets, allied to manpower cuts, will obliterate the wildlife crime units.

Police Scotland is now a single force, and is undergoing the upheavals that force mergers inevitably bring, but there should now exist the best possibility of a coherent wildlife crime policy, unlike the mishmash across the various police forces in England, but won't hold my breath.
MJB

When official stats show things like the North Wales force (which is known to prioritise traffic policing) has the worst burglary clear-up rate in the UK, its not hard... in addition, there is steady erosion of the acceptability of e.g. eating a mars bar while driving: its absurd. You might was well say nobody should change gear while driving as suggest that snacking is a dangerous business. This is the practice of a police intent on rule, not service: and obsessed with stats not crime.

I was very impressed with the blog, which emphasised that wildlife crime is crime. I am not at all impressed with police that seek to re-interpret laws (and have the benefit of the fixed penalty notice to avoid the inconvenience of the judicial system that should balance the over-zealousness of Constable Savage) to obtain easy kills while ignoring real crime.

John
 
It doesn't matter that these areas are remote & large. The game keepers are few and their territories are known. If bops are poisoned or shot in one area then the game keepers who run the estate are the obvious culprits.
Their addresses are known. Why don't arrests and forensic tests follow? Why aren't the land owners warned that men in their employ are acting, very likely, with their knowledge, illegally?
The authorities should name the estate & owners publicly for, at the very least, being criminally negligent.
In fact why don't we name them here & let them try & sue for libel?

Or we could just make them finish off any poisons found personally. I'd happily watch.
 
Red Kites enhance the local economy


The public just does not understand the value of having Birds of Prey in an area. From 2004 - 2009 the Red Kites brought in £2.1 million to the local economy of Gateshead's Derwent Valley.

GoNorthEast Bus Company painted nine of their fleet with wonderful red kite images; they saw business and profits soar, because people love these colourful buses going up and down our beautiful Derwent Valley.

The Company is giving us a Bus on two occasions to celebrate our Double Anniversary Year this year. On Saturday 5 July, a Red Kite bus will be at Sage Gateshead for the day, acting as a Display and we shall run a Red Kite Tour on Sunday 20 July.


Proving who the culprits are in wildlife crimes is the tricky part. It is easy to moan that the police aren't doing enough, but realistically given the landscape of the local area and the possibility of laying poisoned bait anywhere, where it or the after-effects may or may not ever be found and then managing to gather enough evidence to be able to even point a finger at those responsible, let alone get a conviction is a monumental task. That the police manage to ever get convictions for wildlife crimes is something that should be, and is, rightly commended.

The Red Kites (especially) are a tourist attraction, and bring in money to the wider community, not just to the estates (unlike grouse shooting where accommodation etc is all in-house). The local police will be doing their best to bring the culprits to court. It is damaging to the reputation of the local area and the tourist trade.

Interesting blog-post from someone who probably knows more about the ins and outs of cases like this than, I suspect, most of us on here, former wildlife crime officer PC Alan Stewart who has written a few books on the subject of policing wildlife crime in Britain.

http://wildlifedetective.wordpress.com/
 

Attachments

  • RK Bus.JPG
    RK Bus.JPG
    51.1 KB · Views: 145
Last edited:
I see no mention in this appalling case of the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds doing what their 1,000,000+ members pay their membership fees for.
 
RSPB steps in

The RSPB has put up a £5K reward for information leading to a successful conviction.

This is not signalling a powerful attack on the perpetrators, is it!


I see no mention in this appalling case of the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds doing what their 1,000,000+ members pay their membership fees for.
 
Last edited:
In fact why don't we name them here & let them try & sue for libel?

2 reasons that I can think of, Halftwo -

1. Your post would likely not last very long as the owners of the website are to a degree responsible to what is 'published' on here (as I understand it).
2. Chances are the land-owners have far deeper pockets than you do.

Did you read the link I posted to former wildlife crime officer, Alan Stewart's blog? He answers a lot of your questions within it.
 
The RSPB should have their Wildlife Crime Officers involved locally working with the police in a high profile round the clock investigation, they would eventually get the evidence needed for a conviction, or at the very least move local people to provide the necessary clues, the locals most probably know who's responsible, because they're a countryside community.

Having said that they could be working 'undercover' so 'undercover' that nobody knows if their involved or not...which brings me right back to my point about the RSPB actually doing something...other than offering a reward that they hope might just be enough to help with their all important image as a responsible active avian protection charity.

Forgive my cynicism, but the RSPB
have justly earned it. Whatever, let us hope the perpetrator/s are quickly caught and a prison sentence given that will send out a message to those of similar disposition regards our magnificent raptors.
 
Warning! This thread is more than 7 years ago old.
It's likely that no further discussion is required, in which case we recommend starting a new thread. If however you feel your response is required you can still do so.

Users who are viewing this thread

Back
Top