Peak District snares – what they say

Mark 7 Comments

Yesterday’s news about the widespread use of snares in the Peak District National Park attracted considerable media attention, including:

A spokesman for the Duke and Duchess of Rutland (who must have jogged from one wing of Belvoir Castle to the other to discover their joint view) said  ‘They were not aware of any alleged illegal activities being carried out on the land. They are horrified by these allegations and will investigate them fully.‘.  I recommend a read of the Duchess’s book, Shooting: a season of discovery (!) as a source of interesting views about shooting, the RSPB and how predators thrive under shooting regimes.

But, allegedly, the most allegedly interesting, alleged statement was made by the Peak District National Park CEO, Sarah Fowler who said , ‘People are understandably distressed by these images, taken on a private estate.  Conserving and enhancing the natural beauty and wildlife of the National Park is something we work hard to achieve with our partners.  We will support the police in their investigation. We will also continue to support moorland owners in achieving good practice in managing the moors of the Peak District National Park.‘.

Well Sarah, if you had drafted that statement when you worked for me at the RSPB I’d have sent it back alleging it was a bit dull and a bit feeble.  Let’s just inspect it for any interesting content. There are four sentences:

  • Sentence 1: you are describing, presumably by guessing, other people’s feelings about this incident. You don’t tell us whether the PDNP is distressed, angry or rolling about laughing after seeing them. What is your position as the National Park authority?  You don’t say…
  • Sentence 2: you are describing what you try to do, but you don’t tell us how this event contributes or detracts from the PDNP’s aims and objectives. The fact is that the PDNP is a wildlife crime hotspot and has a reputation for good views and little wildlife – particularly little wildlife that conflicts in any way with the aims of private shooting estates.  Do you find the filmed events helpful in any way to the reputation of the PDNP?  You don’t say…
  • Sentence 3: you say you’ll support the police. That’s good. Is that moral support or any practical support, and if so of what kind?
  • Sentence 4: you now go out of your way to say you want to be friends with moorland owners in your National Park. Why? Is it because video footage of snared wildlife just makes you want to go and hug a Duke?

What the PDNP might have said in public was , ‘We cannot comment on this particular case as it is being investigated by the police and we were only made aware of this video footage very recently. We will make a full statement at a later date.  However, it is clear that scenes like those shown, if encountered by visitors to our National Park, would be distressing.‘.

And what Sarah might be saying in private might be ‘Bloody hell! Another PR disaster caused by shooting interests. We have bugger all raptors to speak of (after years of getting the moorland folk around the table), last year there was that armed man with a decoy on a moorland, then there are unconsented tracks wrecking the moors, damage to the vegetation from vehicles, fell runners being injured by snares, the heather is periodically burned to buggery against best practice guidelines and now we have a group of people who say they’ve filmed a gamekeeper shooting a Badger. Are these landowners trying to destroy the reputation of the country’s oldest National Park? And we have a consultation out at the moment asking people to tell us what to do – what are they all going to say now? If only we owned the land – but we don’t. Get me Helen Ghosh on the phone – if the National Trust even think about getting in another shooting tenant on their land there’ll be hell to pay. And I want to see Amanda Anderson in here in the next few days for a serious talk because her members are just taking the piss. She can stop staring out of her window imagining she’s seeing flocks of raptors and get down here and kick some ass for me.‘.

…although I’m sure Sarah wouldn’t say any of that – more’s the pity.

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7 Replies to “Peak District snares – what they say”

  2. From the PDNP brochure, alledgedly ‘one third of PDNP is designated for nature conservation’. Do they care what happens in the remaining two thirds? We’ll see.

  3. One thing for sure Mark, is that Sarah would not have been ‘guessing’ about other people’s feelings, certainly not if she had read my contribution to the PDNP management consultation! And I bet I’m not the only one.
    If anybody has not yet completed the survey, please may I ask that you do so, so that nobody has to guess about our true feelings.
    The NP authorities are failing us big time. If they are prepared to let OUR wildlife have it both barrels, then let’s do the same to them.

  4. Please send the duke and duchess of Rutland a sympathy note – the horror of having morons with guns roaming loose on ones property.

  5. It’s about time that National Parks stopped cosying up to landowners and started resolutely rooting out wildlife crime on their turf. Given the parks appear to worry more about their image than their wildlife, they need to wake up and recognise that this sort of activity is a stain that needs to be stopped. Or do we need to bring it graphically to the attention of all those visitors before they take firm action?

    The Lake District National Park is understandably celebrating its newly acclaimed World Heritage Site status. But will this lead to better management for wildlife? More hen harriers? Or just more money from tourists? And no doubt some jolly trips to compare notes with other sites across the globe?

  6. I’d still advocate public funding for demonstrable public benefit, in which case there should be an evidence based process to go through before eligibility for any landowner ‘welfare’ payments?

  7. Is the NT still planning to relet its shooting in the PDNP ? It certainly was when I wrote to Dame Helen Ghosh – I was told grouse shooting is ‘traditional ‘ and NT supports tradition. Surely there comes a time when traditions need questioning – or wasNT planning to start sending orphans up its many chimneys again had Therea won her great victory ?

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