Gamekeeper’s conviction for poisoning birds of prey ‘a wake-up call’, warns judge

Britain’s rural aristocracy and the owners of the country’s great sporting estates have been warned they have a duty to ensure that their employees obey the wildlife laws after a former gamekeeper was found guilty of poisoning 11 birds of prey on a Norfolk estate.

The conviction of Allen Lambert for deliberately killing 10 buzzards and a sparrowhawk should act as a “wake up call” to landowners, district judge Peter Veits said.

The RSPB described the incident, which took place at the 4,200-acre Stody Estate near Holt, as “the worst case of bird poisoning” ever detected in England and called for tougher laws to safeguard raptors from persecution.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/crime/gamekeepers-conviction-for-poisoning-birds-of-prey-a-wakeup-call-warns-judge-9844958.html

My god, why would anybody do this? Raptors are incredible creatures and have never even harmed anything people care about. Jesus, I can at least understand why people might kill foxes, wolves or coyotes -- eagles and hawks surely can't be doing enough harm to warrant poisoning.

It's just not cricket ...

bloody non sense.....

i mean theres the judge talking about "a wake up call"    and then gives the twat a suspended sentence...

he should have got at least 5 years in the caboose....


the problem is two fold ben

firstly there are still a few "old fossils " about, still gamekeeping, from the era when such things were permitted
secondly, in some few areas the raptor population is out of control and whats worse out of balance

this can have a number of serious Knock on effects down the food chain, one result of which is that OWL are now being driven out of some areas by competition for food by red kites and buzzards...

In some areas it is not unusual to see 5 or six pairs of buzzards in an area that should actually support only 1 or two pairs.

In some areas the buzzard has been "reintroduced" the self proclaimed anorak wearing sunday afternoon experts from the RSPB "decided" this would be a good idea....they didnt consult anybody, they didnt make any attempt to make sure the environment was still suitable...they just did it....because they could....

there is a problem over here in that a significant number of people lack any sense of "reality" in these matters....

so we have a problem with two sides

idiot "old keepers" and stuffy old fools

and

anorak wearing plonkers who live in towns and know F**k all about the contry side or how it REALLY works
and have become an "expert" by reading a book



MY permission has a balance....red kites, buzzards song birds and game aplenty, properly managed by somebody who knows wats what....(thats me btw)  and all done for no charge to anyone...including maintaining the wood land in a nature friendly way........

Oh and before it occurs to some moron to question it....

Raptor numbers are controlled by the simple expedient of controlling the numbers of their prey...like rabbits, pigeons etc.....

easy peasy