RSPB ‘arms race’ to save birds of prey

CONSERVATIONISTS who protect Scotland’s famous birds of prey are in an ‘arms race’ with criminals, investigators have said.

Ian Thomson, head of investigations at charity RSPB Scotland, made the remarks after a series of satellite-tagged birds of prey including golden eagles and sea eagles disappeared in suspicious circumstances.

He said satellite transmitters had led to a ‘massive reduction’ in illegal poisoning cases as those targeting raptors know that, if a tagged bird stops moving, somebody will look for it. But criminals were trying to stay a step ahead.

Mr Thomson said: ‘The technology is changing all the time. A few years ago these GPS satellite tags could only be fitted to big birds like eagles or cranes or storks and now we are fitting them to smaller birds of prey like hen harriers.

‘But we have to recognise that in some perverse way we are almost in a strange arms race because those who are killing birds of prey, rather than chucking out half a rabbit laced with carbofuran, are now wandering about at 2am with thermal-imaging gear.

‘We know from the disappearance of satellite-tagged birds that these birds are being literally shot off their perches in the middle of the night.

‘That’s difficult to combat and they know that.’

Mr Thomson said in a podcast that a pattern had emerged over the past decade where tagged birds were mysteriously disappearing.

Tags were 25 times more likely to fail suddenly and mysteriously in Scotland than in any other country, he said, suggesting the birds were being killed and the transmitters destroyed.

While tagged birds that die naturally can often be recovered, those whose tags stopped in mysterious circumstances – often on land managed for driven grouse shooting – were never seen or heard of again.

Mr Thomson called for greater deterrents for criminals who believe they are ‘indestructible’. He said: ‘The person who raises that gun towards that goshawk or towards that golden eagle, what will be going through their mind is, “What are the chances of me being caught, and if I am caught what are the chances of me being successfully prosecuted?”

‘When you get cases where you have video of an individual committing the crime and they still aren’t prosecuted, they’ll be thinking, “I’m indestructible here”.’

He added: ‘They do still get away with it. This is the problem. These crimes are taking place in the middle of nowhere, where witnesses are few and far between, where finding evidence to prove that bird was killed by that person is well-nigh impossible.’

‘Birds are shot off their perches’