BirdForum is the net's largest birding community dedicated to wild birds and birding, and is absolutely FREE!

Register for an account to take part in lively discussions in the forum, post your pictures in the gallery and more.

Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="nirofo" data-source="post: 1855289" data-attributes="member: 1854">Yes I am biased, unreasonable, I don't think so, not when you've seen some of the strokes I've seen keepers get up to to eliminate predators. Let's make a list shall we, 1, Poisoned bait - result - indescriminate killing of anything that eats it, including Sea Eagle, Golden Eagle, Red Kite, Buzzard, Sparrowhawk, Goshawk, Peregrine. Not to mention all the other animals it kills including Dogs and Wildcats. 2, Trapping - Snares - put out for Foxes etc, result left for days or even weeks leaving animal to suffer agonising prolonged death. Indescriminate, catches Foxes and Deer. 3, Gin traps - Yes they are illegal but some still use them, another barbaric method of inflicting maximum pain on anything it catches, can be used in various ways, such as setting on runs, in tunnels, on poles etc. 4, Fenn traps - Legal to use but similar effect to gin traps as above. 5, Larson traps - Supposed to be used to control Corvids by luring them into a cage with a pre-caged Crow etc, in effect it will also catch Buzzards, Kites, Sparrowhawks, Goshawks and Peregrine. 6, Shooting - This is probably the most direct approach, but it accounts for most of the Hen Harrier, Peregrine, Goshawk and Sparrowhawk killings. Let's envisage a typical scenario, it's the middle of the breeding season for Raptors, it's 5.0 am Tuesday morning, the keeper sets off early to be out before anyone else is about. He knows where the Hen Harrier is nesting so as he gets close to the site he approaches stealthily so not to disturb the birds too early, suddenly the birds are up alarming at him, they fly over him closely to try and frighten him away from the nest, that's perfect, just what the keeper hoped for! He brings up his gun and fires, he can't miss it's such an easy target for an experienced keeper, the bird falls, he picks it up and he's away from the nest site as quick as he can. He disposes of the carcass, either burying it or burning it after first removing any rings that might be on it, that way nobody can trace it back to him if they happen to find it. The rings will be disposed of elsewhere. On many estates the keepers don't even try to be so stealthy, so confident that even if someone sees them at their dirty work they can't do anything about it, after all if he's caught he'll probably get away with it, or at worst be given a miserly fine and told to be a good boy in future. nirofo.</blockquote>

Verification