Friday 26 June 2020

SGA STATEMENT: RSPB PRESS RELEASE ON HEN HARRIERS

Please see the SGA statement released yesterday on RSPB beginning their concerted attempt to force grouse moor licensing with the release of a story on satellite tags failing.

A Spokesman for The Scottish Gamekeepers Association said: “Until satellite tags are monitored independently of organisations which are lobbying for increased grouse moor legislation, we cannot have trust in how data is being interpreted and reported.
“When Hen Harrier Brian’s last signal was found to have been on an RSPB Reserve in Insh Marshes in the Cairngorms National Park in 2016, the bird was never located. RSPB said the last signal was only an ‘indication of where a bird had been’, not that it was killed there, and then went quiet. Why?
“A Golden Eagle tagged as part of the South of Scotland Golden Eagle project was thought to have been killed by another project eagle. It’s tag was supposedly functioning fully well but was never found, either. Why not?
“There is no evidence to suggest these 2 cases are any different in any way. They would simply not stand up, evidentially, in any court in the land.
“The SGA has a very clear wildlife crime policy and has expelled 8 members in 7 years who have been convicted of wildlife crime. We will always take a hard stance on this issue. However, we will not hang people out to dry on the basis of speculation provided by groups with clear agendas.”