The Sunday Herald reports Scottish “gamekeepers move to block RSPB legal action".
A court has accepted an argument by gamekeepers' lawyers that members of non-statutory organisations, like the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds, require landowner's consent to collect evidence of illegal persecution of protected species. The decision removes any general public ability to witness wildlife crime on private estates. A consequence of the decision would be increased opportunity for the enhancement by illegal means of the asset values of highland shooting estates.
Haystoun Estate gamekeeper John McLeod was filmed taking a rare peregrine falcon chick from its nest. RSPB investigators provided the evidence. But McLeod walked free in March. The Sheriff ruled the evidence was inadmissible because, he decided, it had been collected illegally. “It seems to me it is illegal to enter onto someone's land without permission he said. The ruling would seem to have massive ramifications for the general prosecution of crime.
Persecution of birds of prey has been a long-standing tradition of the owners and managers of landed estates around the world, from South Africa to Scotland. Many species including the osprey and the red kite were blasted and poisoned to extinction in Victorian times. Recent efforts at reintroduction have been increasingly successful, but are still endangered by ongoing persecution. There are currently up to six cases pending in Scotland involving gamekeepers accused of wildlife crimes. The Crown is now to appeal the McLeod case in an effort to clarify the position.
The situation has come to a head just as the provisions of the Land Reform (Scotland) Act are coming into force. The Act puts rights of access to land - previously relying on custom and common law - onto a statutory basis. It remains to be seen how this will affect the legal position of witnesses to gamekeepers' illegal activities.
The basis of the problem is that raptors such as peregrines and harriers threaten the interests of shooting estates. The birds prey on the game species which the estates breed to entice shooting enthusiasts from all over the world. Rich shooters pay a high premium for a day's grouse shooting on a Scottish moor. The estates argue that this is only supporting the local economy. But the current law seems to fail to balance the estate's private interest with the higher public and environmental interests.
Shooting estates' market values are calculated on the strength of their shooting history. Each grouse shot in a year adds to the asset value of an estate. Estate owners and their managers have a vested pecuniary interest in shooting and poisoning rare peregrine falcons. The law must recognise this fact if it is to protect rare species and contribute towards the restoration of our desolate rural environments. The future of our raptor population will require the de-coupling of the estates' own interest from a single-minded maintenance of its land value.
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