Today we are publishing our annual report on crimes against birds - covering the year 2009.
Nice report - sorry tale!
In a foreword by Chief Constable Richard Crompton, the Association of Chief Police Officers' lead on wildlife crime, he writes 'Let me make my position quite clear: the illegal killing or persecution of birds of prey is totally unnacceptable, the protection offered to birds of prey by the law is clear and the police will enforce that legislation.'. Well said, but that may be more difficult to do if police resources are cut over the next few months, as they almost certainly will be.
Is there, perhaps, a role for Big Society here? An army of certified wildlife experts collecting evidence for the police and even doing some investigation work? Pie in the sky I guess?
But perhaps there is another response to lower police numbers and that is harsher sentencing. If there is a smaller chance of being caught carrying out a crime then the deterrent can only be maintained if the consequences of prosecution are increased.
There is a wide spread of incidents but with some notable hot-spots. Derbyshire, Cumbria, Herefordshire, North Yorkshire, Lancashire, Angus, Highland, Perth and Kinross and South Lanarkshire have particularly high levels of incidents. Even my own county of Northamptonshire had seven incidents in 2009 - one of which was an injured juvenile red kite found in June which had been shot. Those red kites give me so much pleasure as i see them in the skies around where I liove, and occasionally over my house, and it saddens me (it really does) to think that they are still vulnerable to illegal activities in the countryside around where I live.
And many of the wildlife crime cases do affect birds of prey - birds which are fully protected by the law. And yet, in 2009 as in other years, golden eagles, white-tailed eagles, red kites, peregrines and many more species are killed illegally through poisoning, shooting, trapping and nest destruction. This report spells out the scale of this illegal activity and also documents some of the cases. Here are the bare bones of just four incidents:
In March 2009 a male peregrine crash-landed in a garden near Lichfield with a metal spring trap on its leg. The bird later died from its injuries. RSPB staff subsequently found three spring traps set in nearby quarries.
In June 2009 a golden eagle died from insecticide poisoning in Glen Orchy.
There was the white-tailed eagle found on 6 August 2009 on the Glenogil Estate which had been poisoned by the banned pesticide carbofuran. This area has been the scene of several poisoning incidents.
In December 2009 one of the released red kites in Northern Ireland was found dead next to a rabbit laced with the poison alphachloralose.
And who is responsible for this crime wave? Over the period 1990-2009 141 people were convicted of offences related to persecution of birds of prey. Of these, 95 were gamekeepers. Now although this does not mean that most gamekeepers break wildlife laws it does show that most people convicted of wildlife crimes concerning birds of prey are gamekeepers. The RSPB believes that although it is the gamekeeper who will often end up in court it is their managers and employers who are primarily responsible and that the introduction of a vicarious liability offence is needed to make the real culprits responsible for the actions of their employees.
The report is packed with depressing facts and figures and with details of many of the incidents reported to the RSPB or with which we have been intimately involved. It makes depressing reading in many ways. Our bird of prey campaign which collected 210,567 signatures calling for an end to the killing of birds of prey is still remembered by politicians. We will be making this report widely available to decision makers.
This is a very well put together report. Very saddening that the levels of persecution in some areas are going up. The key thing for me here is not just that there are some unlawful acts going on out there but that they are critcally affecting some bird of prey populations. Hen harriers should be much more widespread in England, Golden Eagles likewise in Scotland and spreading into England and the spread of Red kites , especially around the Black Isle has been limited.
We have managed to stop slavery, no longer stick kids up chimneys, don't kill birds to put feathers on hats and we've even given women the vote! It really is about time this victorian attitude to birds of prey came to an end.
Keep at it RSPB you are doing a great job.
Sooty, I think you might have misunderstood me there. I am more than happy that there is no evidence that farmers shoot wildlife that cause problems but that is exactly what the Government is proposing in the future with the possible badger cull; licensing farmers to shoot badgers. The rights or wrongs of that cull are for another argument but I do worry that it would send out a message to those who poison animals etc that times are changing in their favour.
A bit below the belt at farmers there Bob,there is very little evidence that farmers shoot wildlife even when they do cause problems or most Badgers would already be dead as they caused 25,000 cattle to be slaughtered in England last year,think farmers have shown commendable restraint as it is not difficult on a farm to sort things out if so minded with no one any the wiser.Badgers are particularly difficult for public to see except dead by the side of the road.T B in cattle increased almost 50 fold in 30 years so presumably Badger infection increased 50 fold in that time as well.All the do gooders who sign against anything happening are ruining both farmers and Badgers.Do not think any likelihood farmers will either shoot human beings that cause problems.
Redkite and Bob - very thoughtful comments (as always) from you both. Thank you.
Mark, Excellent report but wish it hadn't been necessary. It would be nice to see a report that says 'nothing to report' but that would be Pie in the Sky thinking.
There are 2 issues here, one is trying to stop it happening in the first instance and the second is effective investigation and prosecution when it does happen (I suspect the second may help with the first anyway). The RSPB and others have a part to play in deterring it through education and other means but the investigation of wildlife crime has always been a low priority for local policing and with full time and part time Wildlife Officers disappearing I am sure this will continue to decline as part of the financial restrictions.
The National Wildlife Crime Unit can't do it all and there is big training exercise if we asked wildlife experts to gain criminal evidence gathering skills and that would cost NE and others money that is unlikely to be available. There are ex Police Wildlife Officers out there (to declare an interest, as you know I am one of them) but forming those into an effective unit (at the 'army' level you refer to) would still cost government money which doesn't exist at present.
I am not really looking forward to the 2010 report. I just hope that licensing farmers to shoot badgers doesn't send out the message that any wildlife that causes problems is fair game.
So what a pessimist I am. There are glimmers of hope in this report as some areas of bird crime are diminishing but overall I do foresee resources being taken away from wildlife protection in a lot of agencies and just hope I am wrong.