Matthew Gonshaw is in prison again for stealing birds’ eggs. On Tuesday he was convicted of stealing and possessing eggs which included those of golden eagles, ospreys and avocets. Over 700 eggs were found in his east London home in Bow.
This is the fourth time that Gonshaw has been jailed for similar offences.
Rather than triumphant, I feel rather sad about this case. I’m no psychologist, but this guy seems like an addict and, although I know nothing about him personally, he seems to me to need help as much as punishment. But if he is to be locked up then why not do it in the breeding season rather than the middle of winter? Is he going to spend his time planning his next egg-raid as he does his bird?
Once in a blue moon the RSPB Council would consider the expulsion of an RSPB member for a wildlife crime offence. Any convicted egg collector would be asked to resign his (they were all men) membership and if he refused then he would be expelled.
This all seems fair enough but it makes me wonder whether there are other wildlife offences that would merit expulsion. Should the RSPB and Wildlife Trusts and other nature conservation organisations be checking their membership lists to see whether there is a George Osborne on their lists?
It’s easier for most of us to feel outraged when someone deliberately hurts, harms or kills another living creature than if their actions lead to a much greater loss of wildlife but with less pain or blood. Is that the right way to look at things?
Who do you think should be locked up for crimes against nature?
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I think we should consider expulsion from the human race for Osborne. That is assuming he is human. We could propel him round the Hadron Collider and observe his Higgs boson. Now that would be a Christmas present for humanity.
Mark
Regarding the Gonshaw Case (see here http://bit.ly/tXlzwe for more details), you raise a considerably valid point and also a very sensible one – could the Court delay the sentence until March 2012? Apparently the police are seeking an ASBO which if he breaks it, could see him do ‘bird’ for up to 5 years…now that really would be a deterrent. And I wonder if that could be applied to other miscreants that commit wildlife crime – hen harriers would no doubt benefit considerably. But what happens to the eggs? Is there not an argument, however distasteful to me and others, to allow him to keep the eggs? Does removing them encourage replacement? Or am I going ‘against the grain’?
And on to your second point, why should Osborne not be a member of the RSPB? He may have views that are distasteful for some but surely, he should be invited to Leighton Moss or Conwy RSPB Reserves (possibly his nearest); followed by a trip to Mull to see the economic value that nature conservation and on Mull specifically, white-tailed eagles, deliver to the economy. And taking your argument to a logical conclusion, there may be RSPB, Wildlife Trust or other conservation NGOs’ members who live in Tatton (Osborne’s constituency) and who voted for him. Should they be removed too?
This reminds me of Aesop’s fable, the wind and the sun (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_North_Wind_and_the_Sun); who argued as to who was the stronger. Sometimes, gentle persuasion works better than expulsion.
Richard – of course! I wasn’t entirely serious – nor, I have to say – entirely light-hearted. I wonder the same as you about the eggs but possession is an offence.
Obviously the RSPB, WT and other members who voted for George Osborne need help too! But seriously, if Geo Osborne is an RSPB member I would be very surprised – but of course ‘delighted’.
Gentle persuasion works best with the gently persuadable – there is no guarantee that the reasobable can win over the unreasonable in any walk of life. Gentle persuasion wouldn’t have worked with Hitler – indeed appeasement was tried – he had to be defeated. It is horses for courses and nature conservation has to recognise its real enemies and its real friends as part of winning the day.
Top eggers are usually pretty fantastic birders – its a tragedy they abuse their skills. Marks’ right – with this guy it’s an addiction and I just wonder whether compulsory voluntary service at the Loch garten osprey camp (under close supervision !) mightn’t be a better punishment & cure ?
You need to be a bit careful with expulsions. Yesterday we heard about the contempt with which Higg’s thinking on his particle was greeted and there was inflamed discussion within the Institute of Chartered Foresters over Steve Tomkins ‘Theft of the Hills’ about upland forestry – today seen as an important contribution in the development of forestry.
Whilst I don’t think I’m about to sign up to Osborne’s views on the economic (un) importance of the environment were I the expelling sort I’d have issues with how some conservation leaders have (and perhaps still are) behaved over the Government’s proposal to sell the national forests.
Natural England need locking up! They have just given permission to damage a group of Bird’s nest orchids in an SSSI. I have written to Plant Life to see what they can do.
Sir David Scholey springs to mind. It may be legal to shot big game but trophy hunting generally is beyond the pale as far as I’m concerned.
On the day that the news came out regarding the 6 month sentence for Mr Gonshaw there was a news article about a local teenager who walked into a freshly rioted shop picked up 2 left shoes and threw them back in to the shop. For this she got 10 months. 2 left shoes are clearly more valuable to society that a suitcase of raided birds eggs.
Mark, Like you I can see no reason why sentence cannot be delayed to coincide with the breeding season. It is often the case that these collectors are caught in the breeding season which allows enough time for the court case and sentence to be over before the next season.
Richard, The ‘collecting’ by these fanatics does seem to include the wish to have eggs from 2000, 2001, 2002 etc. So the retention by the offender doesn’t necessarily remove the wish to carry on.
I have always had an issue with why the eggs are destroyed after a court case. There must be some scientific value in them even if the written records behind them cannot always be validated.
As much as it goes against my principles think there could be gains from making G O a honorary member.Would love to get Dave Sexton to show him the W T E and what dedication to wild birds can achieve.
Every time I see someone seeing these birds for the first time they are always blown away.
Dear Mark,
Firstly I really enjoy reading your views on conservation. I am an active conservationist in London and need all the perspective I can get on the countryside situation.
I think it’s easy to be angry with Osborne and co, but part of me wonders if this is merely representative of a wider ignorance which is damaging wildlife and the environment. Politicians such as Osborne, Pickles and Cameron (I can presume) don’t care for conservation because it fundamentally goes against the notion of unlimited economic growth. This has been the backbone of modern Britain, “keeping the rich rich”, booming in the Blair years.
It is not perhaps that these individuals should be punishable (yet) or deemed criminal but that aspects of the system within which they operate should be defined as such. The Conservative aspect of our government is fundamentally tribal and ideologically driven. As the unelected majority they act as if this is a window in which they can push through right-wing policies at the expense of their rivals. In a ratio that we have seen across other parts of our society, their economic desires will take precedent over the wider issue of national biodiversity.
What does offer me a chuckle is that individuals such as Osborne, perhaps like Gonshaw, are driven by animalistic instincts which benefit themselves at the expense of others, animal or mineral. They are more destructive than any TB-riddled badger, both economically and environmentally.
It is difficult to make sense of these bizarre circumstances but your blog is a chink of light in strange times. As, may I say, is the wonderful wildlife we have in this country. And it offers hope that the Independent Panel for Forestry make the point that a tree has a greater life span than a politician a career, and so wildlife should be protected above and beyond political party policy.
Daniel – welcome and you are very much welcome to post many more comments if you are continue to be so kind to me.
There may be abstruse legal reasons why the RSPB ‘asks’ someone to resign, rather than just chucking them out. We had a similar thing when I was on the council of the British Entomological & Nat. Hist. Society some years ago, and a member was caught with large numbers of a protected moth caterpillar, obviously caught wild, for commercial use. He may or may not have been prosecuted, but it was agreed all round that this was not the thing the society wanted to be associated with. It may even have brought the study of entomology in disrepute. However, the BENHS found it was not empowered to throw anyone off its membership list unless they defaulted on subscriptions. It was all to do with bylaws written, on the main part, over a century ago, when the business of proposer and seconder to get into the society in the first place was deemed enough to make sure unworthy characters were kept out.
Seized eggs (with data) have always been handed over to museums but in this case CPS made a plea for them to be destroyed as it was felt that Gonshaw gained personal notoriety by claiming his place in egg collecting history through his eggs being deposited in a musuem. Sussex collector James Walpole-Bond is his hero.
Courts simply have no mechanism to delay sentences, it would deemed against human rights to have such a situation, however useful it would be for conservation.
We need an extra level of punishment/deterrent such the ASBO application that CPS are applying for in this case, that would bring in an increased sentence power of up to 5 years or something as simple as the offender having to ‘sign in’ at a particular police station daily, if offending continues. That would focus minds in all but the most extreme cases.
I have nothing but contempt for eggers. It may well be an addiction, but that’s no excuse. I am an ex-alcoholic and I eventually sought help, because apart from harming myself, I was hurting the people around me. This man doesn’t want to stop whatsoever and is continually devious in his pursuit of acquiring eggs, just as an alcoholic is in pursuit of drink. Sympathy is left wanting here I’m afraid.
This is his fourth term in jail for heaven’s sake. This egger is not getting the message. The harm he is wreaking on these fragile species is immeasurable. Either they lengthen these ridiculously short sentences or they start handing out some serious fines. We have to get tough with people of his ilk.
Alan – thank you for making your point in such a powerful way.
I am interested in the comment that a delayed sentence would be deemed to be against human rights. This may be strictly true in law, for all I know, but I don’t really understand why it should be. Any incarceration is a deprivation of the prisoner’s human rights, albeit legally endorsed; the law asserts that a criminal forfeits his right to freedom when he is found guilty of the crime. Imprisonment is justified as a deterrent (obviously not working in Gonshaw’s case) and as a means of keeping society safe by denying the prisoner the opportunity to offend again for the duration of the sentence. As far as the latter argument goes surely it must make sense to time the sentence to coincide with the period when the crime could occur? From Gonshaw’s point of view he would suffer no more time in prison and would even have the benefit of some time at liberty to prepare for his time in prison.
If legally this is not possible, however, another approach might be a combination of electronic tagging during the breeding season coupled with a suspended sentence. An obsessive egg thief such as Gonshaw can single handedly wipe out precarious populations of wild birds so finding some effective means of stopping him from offending must be a high priority.
Who do you think should be locked up for crimes against nature? was the question! But as the rest have written. An egg collector in prison but not a land owner who has actually killed the bird that laid the egg!