Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
to report these fi gures as the 'offi cial statistics' in communications on this issue (in contrast, for
example, to the 'unoffi cial RSPB' data cited in Section 6.3).
The continual sensationalism and exaggeration of the problem is a signifi cant impediment to
progress. Looking only at the 22 incidents of illegal poisoning of birds of prey in 2010, the allega-
tions and rumours that were circulated developed an almost hysterical pitch at times, largely due to
what we feel stemmed from a lack of hard information. The public should (but does not often) know
that many investigations of these types of offences do not lead to charges being brought, and that this
is usually due to a lack of evidence. While such unresolved cases are rarely closed, their status does
not tend to reach the public domain either. Instead, the information remains fi rmly in police hands
and details of the incident are not divulged even to the landowner. This situation results in both
unhelpful and unfair speculation by those having their own particular agendas (i.e., those opposed to
game shooting or estate land ownership), and is usually based on partial leaked information.
A good example of how damaging such speculation/perceptions can be involved a dead golden
eagle found with carbofuran in its throat in Peebleshire (2008). This discovery coincided very closely
with the 12 August opening date of the grouse shooting season in Scotland and (unsurprisingly, to
us) the media and others (e.g., conservation and animal welfare groups) immediately jumped to the
conclusion that the owner of the land where the bird was found was responsible for its death. This
incident (and the sensational photographs which showed policemen holding up the dead eagle in
various dramatic poses) was used to generate substantial anti-grouse shooting publicity to damage
the normally good publicity in the media that accompanies the opening of the grouse shooting season
on 12 August every year. This occasion is unique to Scotland and worthy of celebration. However,
nothing more came of the police investigation or of the case. It later transpired that the land involved
was not in fact a managed grouse moor and that the landowner had known the eagles were on his
land and done his best to protect them for the last decade. By the following spring, eagles were
breeding there again and the police offi cer who had led the investigation had left the force. The
fi ne details of what actually transpired during this case remain unknown but despite fi nal offi cial
recognition that the landowner was not involved in any way in this incident, we feel that the ensuing
publicity had already cast an indelible mark on landowners.
In my view (and those of many landowners and other industry organisations), websites such as
'Raptor Persecution Scotland' (see http://raptorpersecutionscotland.wordpress.com/), which allow
their contributors and editors to anonymously make personal attacks on individuals without fear
of reprisal or any hard facts, fuel and increase such speculation. Indeed much of the 'information'
provided on this site is well out of date. Such websites publish comments regarding owners of land
where dead birds have allegedly been found, or where bad practice has been suggested, but they
do not substantiate such allegations with any proper evidence, nor do they offer the landowner
the chance for rebuttal. Irresponsible/infl ammatory coverage of ongoing police cases and investi-
gations on this website has also raised signifi cant concern within the Scottish Police and Scottish
Government. As a result of all these factors, my colleagues and myself deem this particular website to
be speculative, subjective and fundamentally prejudiced. Indeed, the existence of such websites has
bred antipathy between land managers and raptor enthusiasts, which has further exacerbated the
problem, and undermines the positive efforts underway to resolve these issues.
Unfortunately, 'animal rights extremists' who seek a complete end to game shooting and sport-
ing estates, and land reformists, who wish to see large private landholdings, such as private country
estates, broken up and redistributed, ignore all the very good work that landowners on estates do
day in and day out to deliver public goods such as landscape, habitat and wildlife management.
For example, the Cambridge-based Public and Corporate Economic Consultants reported that game
shooting in Scotland was worth over £240m per annum to the Scottish economy and supported 58 000
paid jobs (see The Economic and Environmental Impact of Sporting Shooting - PACEC Report
2006, www.shootingfacts.co.uk). The report also showed that the practices used to manage land
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