RSPB calls for tough action on bird crime
The RSPB has produced its latest bird crime survey. report
SHOOTING organisations have stepped up their condemnation of those who persecute birds of prey, following the publication of the RSPB’s annual report into bird crimes in 2019.
The conservation charity says dozens of birds of prey were illegally shot, trapped and poisoned last year – with 85 confirmed incidents of bird of prey persecution involving species including buzzards, red kites, peregrine falcons, golden eagles and hen harriers.
The issue has become a major concern for shooting organisations, with gamekeepers often blamed. Pro-shooting groups have signed up to a “zero-tolerance” policy on raptor persecution and want better enforcement of the law plus tougher penalties for perpetrators.
The British Association for Shooting and Conservation, the Countryside Alliance and the Game and Wildlife Conservation Trust all say they recognise the damage reports of raptor persecution do to the image of shooting sports.
And they point out that, while killing birds of prey is indefensible, the majority of raptor species across the UK are at historically high levels and that bird crime has, in general, been falling. There were no cases of birds of prey being killed in Devon, Cornwall or Somerset during 2019 and just one reported killing – of a sparrowhawk – in Dorset. One case involving the killing of a lesser black-backed gull in North Somerset came to court last year, with the defendant sentenced to a 12-week curfew with costs and a victim surcharge of more than £800.
The highest concentrations of crimes were in the north of England and Scotland, with North Yorkshire the worst spot, and half the confirmed incidents occurred within protected landscapes, the conservation charity said.
The RSPB said its data, peerreviewed science and popula
‘Protected birds of prey are once again being relentlessly persecuted’ MARK THOMAS, RSPB
tion surveys showed persecution was concentrated on and near grouse moors, and called for tougher action on the industry to end the killing of protected species. No grouse shooting takes places in the South West.
It also said a growing number of satellite-tagged birds of prey such as hen harriers were vanishing in suspicious circumstances – leading conservationists to believe they had been illegally killed.
And persecution continued during the Covid-19 lockdown, according to the RSPB, with its investigation unit seeing its busiest-ever spring dealing with reports of bird of prey crimes and helping police with investigations.
The charity is urging the Government to act to address “environmentally damaging practices” by grouse moors, including persecution of birds of prey and burning of moorland vegetation on peat soils.
All birds of prey are protected under the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981, but the RSPB warned the law was failing to protect them.
Mark Thomas, the RSPB’s head of investigations UK, said: “Once again the bird crime report shows that protected birds of prey like hen harriers, peregrines and golden eagles are being relentlessly persecuted, particularly in areas dominated by driven grouse shooting.
“At a time when the world – and the UK in particular – is seeing catastrophic declines in wildlife populations, the destruction of rare wildlife looks like the opposite of progress.”
He said that there could be 12 times as many hen harriers breeding in England if illegal killing stopped and said the shooting community could not “control the criminals within their ranks. UK governments must implement tougher legislation to bring the driven grouse shooting industry in line with the law, stamp out environmentally damaging practices, and deliver on the UK’s nature recovery targets,” he said.