Over the last few days we’ve been hearing from various sources about a long list of charges made against a gamekeeper from an estate in the Scottish Borders, in relation to alleged wildlife crimes.
This afternoon we contacted Police Scotland for details and confirmation. A spokeswoman responded very quickly (thanks!) and told us this:
“A 59-year-old man has been charged in connection with wildlife crime offences at a rural estate in the Scottish Borders. A report will be submitted to the Procurator Fiscal and he is expected to appear in court at a later date”.
Good. We look forward to the details being published in full.
Raptor Persecution UK 
[Ed: comment deleted as libellous. Please note, this gamekeeper has only been charged, not convicted. It is up to the court to decide his guilt/innocence]
Now for the other few hundred ……..
Don’t hold your breath, they CPS -Scottish Equivalent will give the case to a guy just out of collage about half an hour before the hearing. Justice in this country is open to all, just like the Ritz hotel in London.
You’s don’t realise that a grouse moor is full of wildlife! It’s a shame one man can ruin the lives of many hard working men and there family’s maybe you should go visit a grouse moor instead of sitting in your house watching country file and believe there bullshit!
Bobby we do have legs ears and eyes- and no I don’t watch tv. you should try it
Bobby.
I have been on to plenty of grouse shooting estates. If you have, you’ll know the scale of the wildlife persecution and devastation caused by gamekeepers on behalf of their employers. This blog exposes those practices like no other. Thanks RPUK.
I agree with you about Country File. The way they portray the farming and shooting community is a farce. The widespread cruel practices and the catastrophic environmental damage the livestock and shooting industries cause is either ignored or is given a healthy dose of greenwash!
You’s Bobby’s out there need to learn about wildlife, biodiversity and ecosystems…then you’s Bobby’s will understand why we call grouse moor’s wildlife deserts. But it is a shame that a few people can have such a devastating and unregulated impact on the environment of so many.
But never mind it will be cheaper for society to relocate and retrain the few folk and their families that will be affected by the closure of the grouse moors.
Bobby, if what I suggested happens as has been the case in the past where the CPS guy had very little time to prepare (not peculiar to wildlife crime I hasten to add – more a sad indictment of our legal system) , and the case gets thrown out on a technicality, then surely you must recognise that wildlife crimes only destroy any reputation of the estates where they are committed and the estates should do more to prevent wildlife crime – allowing covert surveillance would be a start.
Yes, lots of stoats, weasels, crows and foxes out there
Who the hell do you think you are talking to you arrogant little twerp ?
Bobby mclaren, you’s shooting guy’s (and gal’s) presumably realise that “a grouse moor is full of wildlife” is a meaningless statement without quantification. Having spent much of my life observing said wildlife, what saddens me is that the heather moorlands in question should be rich in biodiversity, but are not, thanks mainly to the practice of grouse-moor management. Predator control, to deliberately upset the balance of nature, removes (in many cases illegally) a range of species which are regarded as threats to the grouse-shooters’ targets (Lord, give me this day my daily bag). Sheep grazing is often blamed for the impoverishment of heather moors, but the devastation caused by rotational burning, combined with over-intensive sheep farming, causes a far, far greater loss of biodiversity than modest sheep grazing alone. The restriction of burning during the nesting season might protect bird nests, but what about all the damage to peatlands, botanical diversity, and populations of invertebrates which a variety of bird species feed upon, not to mention the many thousands of small mammals, reptiles and amphibians massacred in the process? Hopefully the day will come when society at large appreciates the value of our natural heritage, and put an end to this disgraceful and unnecessary slaughter of wildlife.
[Ed: comment deleted as implies guilt!]
Er, a gamekeeper charged with wildlife crime offences? I feel a bit faint – is this a parallel universe? Have I gone to the Great Bird Reserve in the sky?
Don’t faint too soon, Andy. There is a long, slow and tortuous road to travel from being charged to being convicted or acquitted.
I am ashamed that such [Ed: alleged] offences are occurring where I live.
It appears that the only way to end persecution of wildlife is to end driven bird shooting.
Good at long last nice toohear
Another potentially rogue gamekeeper?
How can a whole industry be so tainted yet continue to be allowed to continue with draconian and illegal practices. All the while those in power look on helplessly as the establishment and old order sway influence.
You can’t tell me this is all the gamekeepers doing every time… ban the driven grouse moors now for goodness sake. Licensing is token but we know that’s what will we get.
Oh dear, the SGA and the local “Killing For Fun suporters groups” have been throwing up a coordinated whitewashed wall around their seedy little hobby in the run up to the 12th. This has the potential to standout like a floodlit Banksy. #wehavedeadwildlife #slippingmask.
I dont think ‘one man’ ruining it for everyone is the reality. Perhaps you work on the moors, you didnt say, and perhaps you dont take part in the persecution of other life on the moors, but there is overwhelming evidence that many do and it is because of this, not just an occasional rogue, that the people on this forum, and the others fighting wildlife crime, spend so much time and effort trying to bring justice. If it was so unusual they would not be doing so. The Japanese catch cats and boil them alive so they taste better for the pot. I’m no cat lover, but maybe a family relies on this ‘tradition’..does that mean we should accept it. African poachers make what little money they can at the bottom of the ‘food chain’ by killing elephants and Rhinos; that does not mean the crimes they commit should be accepted and allowed. You may think this is a lousy comparison, and maybe it is to you, but not to me. These animals and birds are our heritage and pleasure and has it own rights, and some is as at risk as those larger, more well documented species.
“The Japanese catch cats and boil them alive so they taste better for the pot. ”
That is a racial slur, and I think you should apologise for that.
How is it a “racial slur”? If it is common practice in Japan to “boil them alive” – a bit like lobsters (not that we care too much non mammalians obviously) then if that is the case – and I have no information whatsoever on the practice – then it is a fact and not a slur and merits no apology.
I would like to take the opportunity to apologise beforehand for any offence my comments, however inadvertently, may have made. Pip.