RSPB UK are dumbfounded by the shock news that a gamekeeper has been found guilty of the illegal trapping and killing of birds of prey at the Upper Derwent Valley estate in Derbyshire. Glenn Brown has now been convicted of seven offences under the Countryside and Wildlife Act 1981, and has been sentenced to 100 hours community service and pay £10,000 in costs.
RSPB Investigations officer, Mark Thomas, said –
We welcome this conviction as it sends a clear message that bird of prey persecution remains a serious and orchestrated crime, which continues to steal from society at large. Glenn Brown’s illegal actions have damaged the reputations of both his employer and of the game shooting industry in general. If they are serious about eradicating wildlife crime, both individual employers and the industry’s representative bodies need to do more to ensure that such people have no future in the game shooting business. Bird of prey persecution is a UK Wildlife Crime Priority, and it is vital that Government and the police lead a renewed and concerted effort to afford birds of prey the protection they are due. As part of this, the UK Government should introduce a vicarious liability offence to make managers and employers responsible for the actions of their gamekeepers, as is the case in Scotland.
The Derbyshire gamekeeper was found to be using a cage trap (pictured) on the grouse shooting estate in an attempt to illegally trap and kill birds of prey. Brown was originally arrested in May 2010 thanks to a surveillance operation by an RSPB. The undercover team caught Mr. Brown using a pigeon as bait to capture larger birds of prey, acts that are against the Countryside and Wildlife Act 1981.
Derbyshire has been named as the third worst county in the UK for crimes against birds of prey. Hopefully the message will be sent to other people who poach and kill, that the British judicial system will not tolerate the harming of birds any more.
Help Raise Funds for RSPB with a Membership
Don’t forget, if you sign up today to an RSPB membership you will also receive –
- Free entry to over 100 beautiful nature reserves
- Free Handbook of British Birds
- Free quarterly Magazine
- Free welcome pack
For every £1 that you provide with your membership fee, 90p of it will go towards current and future conservation projects. Plus with the Big Garden Birdwatch just around the corner, now is the perfect time to ‘join up and join in’ with all the fun!
