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The illegal killing of birds of prey in North Yorkshire was featured on the BBC’s Crimewatch Roadshow 10th March 2020. Iplayer Screengrab, all credits and copyright BBC.
Well done Inspector Matt Hagen, Head of North Yorkshire Police’s Rural Crime Team for telling it how it is and acknowledging North Yorkshire as the biggest raptor persecution hotspot in the country and identifying Nidderdale as an area of particular concern.
Weblink: raptorpersecutionscotland.wor... : Regular readers of this blog will be only too aware of Nidderdale AONB’s reputation as a massive wildlife crime scene. We’ve blogged about it many, many times including the poisoning and shooting of red kites, hen harriers, buzzards, marsh harriers on Nidderdale grouse moors (as reported by the AONB partnership in September 2019). We’ve also seen how the local community is turning against the criminals in their midst which is hardly surprising when according to the Chair of the Nidderdale AONB these crimes are “starting to have a damaging effect on tourism businesses”.
Comments included:
Sadly those in rural communities often don’t report the perpetrators of these crimes for a number of reasons.
It’s often very difficult to report “your neighbour” , knowing that you have to live in a small community together.
Whilst there is often suspicion, the persecution frequently takes place out of sight making direct evidence of the crime hard to prove- leading to a reluctance to report “mere suspicion”.
Some residents live in property rented from the estates which own the grouse moors, or are employed in some capacity by the estates……the Guardian newspaper wrote an interesting article on “rural bullying.”
The only way this will change is when the perpetrators of illegal raptor persecution are vilified and viewed in the same way as other criminals such as drug dealers and thieves.
Only once it becomes socially unacceptable to kill raptors, and the mindset of rural populations towards the perpetrators becomes hostile - will the police start to see a flow of information.
Hopefully by the Chair of the Nidderdale AONB claiming that these crimes are “starting to have a damaging effect on tourism businesses”, will there be the start of that mindset change.
It’s probably also really important that the police community support officers make a real effort to engage with the local community, especially youngsters. Children and teenagers don’t usually have the social constraints of their parents, so will often speak the truth.
If the youngsters in these communities are educated that raptor persecution is wrong- then hopefully in a few years time when they become adults - they won’t tolerate the “raptor criminal” within their community…which will make it very hard for the “bad guy” to hide behind a wall of silence?
Reply
4George M
March 10, 2020 at 5:52 pm
Don’t forget how much hegemonic influence large landowners have over local politics and their appointees too. They ensure their views are well represented in enquiries too, often having a big say in the make up of committees. To sweeten the deal free fishing, free days shooting and cheap holiday cottages can all make up the package. Their political remit also extended to Parliament if one casts one’s mind back to the debate of DGM’s as a refresher..
Police Inspector Matt Hagen also said this:
“People out there in the community will know who is committing these offences and we just need that information. We need them to tell us, to make raptor persecution unacceptable“.
Having met Matt a few times and spoken at length about raptor persecution, he’s definitely one of the good guys, who, along with his colleague Sgt Stu Grainger, is leading what could be a formidable team in an area where it’s most needed.
If you have ANY information about raptor persecution in North Yorkshire, even if it’s just a suspicion, pass that info on to these guys and they will investigate.