Ahead of this year’s breeding season, I’ve put a spotlight on bird crime outlining the need for new actions and better cooperation to help protect some of our most iconic species.
I have shared our hopes for hen harrier recovery following publication of the Hen Harrier Action Plan, the RSPB's Head of RSPB Investigations, Bob Elliot highlighted the urgent need for commitment to long-term funding of the National Wildlife Crime Unit, Rob Yorke gave a perspective from someone who shoots while Charlie Moores gave the view of Birders Against Wildlife Crime.
The subject rightly attracts huge interest but my hope is that by sharing these different perspectives people have a broader understanding of the challenge we all face to end the illegal killing of wild birds.
Credit: Ben Hall rspb-images.com
To end the week, I want to profile the work we are doing with others to tackle illegal poisoning across Europe.
The UK is one of many countries that has international commitments to end wildlife crime, and has signed up to the Convention on Migratory Species Resolution calling on parties to prevent the risk of poisoning migratory birds. This includes a global phase-out of lead ammunition. Recent evidence indicates that hundreds of thousands of waterbirds are being fatally poisoned each year as a result of ingestion of lead shot as grit and that shooting can continue successfully using alternatives. Thanks to my former colleague Rob Sheldon, many are now signing an e-petition asking for an end to lead ammunition use, which the RSPB supports. If you have not done so already, I would encourage you to take a look and consider adding your name.
Use of poison baits also remains a threat. We are delighted therefore to be working in partnership with our Spanish BirdLife partner, SEO/BirdLife on this issue. Here, David de la Bodega, Project Coordinator for the European Network against Environmental Crime (ENEC), explains the work of the ENEC:
“Indiscriminate use of poison is illegal and is a threat to many bird populations, including charismatic species like the red kite and Egyptian vulture, plus many others. Illegal poisoning is a continuing problem throughout the EU and beyond and inadequate penalties and inconsistent levels of protection and enforcement seriously undermine efforts to protect migratory species.
“Our work with the ENEC aims to tackle these issues. The ENEC have published an EU-wide action plan to tackle illegal poisoning, which is the second of a series addressing illegal killing and taking of birds, illegal poisoning, and habitat destruction. The Action Plan has been presented to the EC, with endorsement from ENEC members, including European associations of prosecutors (ENPE), judges (EUFJE), police (EnviCrimeNet) and hunters (FACE).
“The project is a SEO/BirdLife and RSPB-led initiative, funded by the Criminal Justice Support Programme of the EU, to create a specialist European network to improve partnership working between BirdLife partners, legal professionals and authorities to better implement the laws protecting wildlife.”
If you are interested and would like to find out more, please visit the project website: lawyersfornature.eu.
We do support it Keith and will be promoting it again next month however our campaign priorities remain 1) defending the EU Nature Directives and 2) encouraging action on climate change. We continue to work with WWT to secure the ban and the e-petition can make a useful contribution to that effort.
If the RSPB supports Rob Sheldon's e-petition why wasn't it significantly more active in promoting the e-petition?