If you missed Channel 4 News’s feature on wildlife crime associated with grouse shooting then you can see it, but only until about 8pm this evening, by following the link above. It’s worth a look (starts at 44 minutes and lasts 10 minutes).
But here are some highlights:
- Inspector Matt Hagen of North Yorkshire Police ‘I am absolutely shocked and disgusted at the level of raptor persecution that I am coming across‘
- Alex Thomson ‘Inspector Hagen told us that of 30 birds that he collected in the past six months only one had died of natural causes‘
- Inspector Hagen said ‘All the shooting investigations we have ongoing at the moment involve gamekeepers on grouse moors‘ Alex Thomson; ‘All of them?‘ Inspector Hagen ‘All of them‘.
- Alex Thomson ‘There is overwhelming evidence now linking to grouse moors to raptor persecution‘
- Will Watson, a gamekeeper ‘It [wildlife crime] needs nipping in the bud and fading out. And the sooner that happens the better.’
- Duncan Thomas of BASC ‘We condemn it. We don’t want wildlife crime within our community‘ and ‘We’re very good at policing ourselves‘.
- Guy Shorrock, RSPB ‘This [driven grouse shooting] is a multi-million pound industry and within that we have organised crime’ and ‘we’re talking about a community that is used to doing its business in a certain way‘.
- Pately Bridge shopkeeper who spoke out against wildlife crime ‘We’ve had threatening letters through the letterbox‘.
- Alex Thomson speaking of a dead Buzzard ‘The toxicology report revealed what they call the Nidderdale cocktail – four poisons‘
- Alex Thomson ‘Can this industry stamp out the illegal killing of birds of prey before the tide of public opinion turns against it?‘
You would have to show an amazing disregard for the truth and for what’s right, and basically contempt for the rule of law if you were a Conservative MP, or Minister, or Prime Minister, who continued to show wildful blindness on this issue. Almost every area involved has a Conservative MP by the way…
And whoever you are, you would have to be very, very naive if you were happy to leave it to an industry steeped in criminality to sort this out themselves. It is time for government to act.
And tomorrow evening Countryfile dips into this issue – let’s see what they have to say (I don’t have high hopes on their past performance but it slightly depends who the presenter is, I guess).
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I’ll believe his outrage when I see a moor owner being perpwalked in handcuffs for wildlife crime. Until then I’ll consider it just more hot air from a cop covering their ass. The time for accepting words has long passed, action is the only thing that will be believed now.
Random – there was some action in the programme.
They arrest someone live on tv? Because talk of action is still just talk.
Duncan Thomas said ‘We’re very good at policing ourselves‘.
Proper little comedian, him.
He wasn’t much good at policing himself when he was a policeman. What chance now.
I think Random is being unfair, I don’t know Matt Hagen well but what I do know is he has a total commitment to solving this issue. He and his rural team based countywide are doing the best job they can but it is very difficult when nobody in the know is currently prepared to talk, this is where the zero tolerance and co-operation arguments of the apologist organisations fall down.
I think the Countryfile piece will be the usual failure. We don’t need the likes of Duncan bloody Thomas, Andrew Gilruth or AA to be given carte blanche to put forward their false hand ringing arguments, answering very tough questions may be but otherwise they are not needed. The police, RSPB and locals is all we need.
No apologists thankyou Countryfile.
The day I’m fair on a cop is the day I stop breathing. We should be hard on the cops; they are given immense privilege and authority, and we should not be cutting them slack on slacking off ever. They should be held to a higher standard, that is their job. Being “fair” to cops just means we enable corruption and abuse within their ranks. All cops are bastards, and unless we hold their feet to the fire on literally every single little thing, then they’ll do nothing at all except creep to the powers and stand on the necks of the week. Unfair, maybe, but nobody is born a cop. They all chose to be one, and that means they need to start doing their damn jobs.
I’ve been on the receiving end of those boots, taking the easy route and picking on the weakest targets, far too often to think otherwise.
I also have been on the receiving end of those boots and fists but ‘all cops’ that is not helping your argument at all.
Even the “good” ones cover for the bad ones, so yes all cops.
Good for Channel 4 at least they are getting to the heart of the matter and presenting reality.
Don’t expect anything of worth from the BBC,s Countryfile. Their record on this type of issue shows they edit what is said very much in favour of the shooters and their whole approach is usually very superficial and of little worth as indeed the whole programme generally is of little worth.
I doubt I shall watch it I only end up fuming at the misleading impressions, lack of objectivity and injustices that the BBC put across.
Agreed Alan but I’ll still watch it, know your enemy.
You are quite right of course Paul. May be I will force myself to watch it.
I watched it and thought it quite good,on the whole.