I, like many people have been angry and disgusted to hear that yet another bird of prey, this time a young satellite tagged White-tailed Eagle has been found poisoned. https://raptorpersecutionscotland.wordpress.com/2020/07/27/satellite-tagged-white-tailed-eagle-found-poisoned-on-grouse-moor-in-cairngorms-national-park/
A year ago, I was joined by Dr Ruth Tingay at the Edinburgh International Book Festival to discuss raptor persecution. Many adults and children created artwork and letters to ask the First Minister to act to stop persecution. But nothing has happened and the slaughter of wildlife continues.
My email:
Dear Nicola Sturgeon
Ref recent satellite tagged White-tailed Eagle poisoned in the Cairngorms National Park
I do not understand your silence.
I do not understand your inaction.
I do not understand your lack of anger.
Yet another magnificent Scottish raptor has been illegally killed in an area of driven grouse moor. The Golden Eagle Scottish Natural Heritage Report that you commissioned concluded unequivocally that persecution associated with driven grouse moor is the primary reason behind the demise and lack of recovery of the Golden Eagle in Scotland.
All raptors entering driven grouse moor areas risk persecution: Golden Eagles, White-tailed eagles, Hen Harriers, Goshawks, Buzzards, Red Kites, Peregrine Falcons. The killing by shooting, trapping and poisoning is relentless.
A year ago, I joined Dr Ruth Tingay in Charlotte Square at the Edinburgh International Book Festival to talk about the problem of illegal persecution of raptors in Scotland. We walked to your official residence to hand deliver artwork and handwritten messages from adults and children who want to see raptors in our skies. I have attached some of those letters and artwork here as a reminder.
Maybe you are silent because you feel this issue is unimportant? Maybe you do not act because you do not want to rock the boat of wealthy landowners? Maybe you are not angry because a White-tailed eagle is just a bird?
I believe you should not be silent.
Raptor persecution is theft. Theft of a life, theft from the wild, theft from the Scottish people who want to have a wild Scotland to be proud of, and theft from future generations.
I believe you should act.
You have been entrusted with a position of power. To be able to bring a halt to raptor persecution and also a ban of Driven Grouse Shooting and restore truly wild landscapes, as is being done in many places, will benefit biodiversity, carbon capture, reduce flooding, support rural economies all year round, not just for a short shooting season. You could help ensure Scotland is proud of its natural heritage, not embarrassed by the continued widespread criminality that has clung on since Victorian times.
The poisons used in this recent killing are toxic enough to kill a human via skin contact.
I believe you should be angry.
Maybe you are not angry about the illegal killing of a bird that died a horrible death. Maybe to you, it’s just a bird. Even so, I am surprised that you are not angry about a centuries-old feudal system that has held landownership, power, politics and wealth in Scotland. This holds the same underlying reasons why a minority of people are running roughshod over the Scottish landscape, allowing largescale legal and illegal killing of Scottish wildlife, and landscape-scale environmental damage and destruction to produce heather for grouse production on grouse moor.
In my book Eagle Warrior, a young Scottish girl has a lucky escape from being poisoned when she is out with her Granny’s dog. The dog eats poisoned bait and dies. If the girl had touched the poison, she would be dead too.
In the book, feisty Granny exchanges words with the gamekeeper who put the poisoned bait out for the eagle. She knows that no one has ever been prosecuted for killing an eagle.
“You’re right,” spat Granny. “People like you and the Duke get away with it all the time. And that’s the biggest crime of all.”
Nicola – I urge you to act now. For the wild, for Scotland and for future generations.
People are angry about this. Many young people, too young to vote are furious. You may choose not to listen, but we will raise our voices ever louder.
Regards
Gill Lewis (Children’s author, vet and human with a vested interest to protect this planet)
