RSPB Is Failing the Hen Harrier

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The National Gamekeepers’ Organisation (NGO) has issued the following statement in response to today's RSPB press release “UK hen harrier population suffers decline, according to latest figures”.

A spokesman for the National Gamekeepers’ Organisation said: “Today’s RSPB press statement concedes that a range of factors, other than illegal killing, are also likely to be behind the changes seen in the hen harrier population, including poor weather, habitat management and low prey abundance. Because the NGO believes that such conservation problems are always best resolved through mutual understanding and collaboration, we are today calling on the RSPB to cast aside its differences and renew its support for the Defra-backed Hen Harrier Action Plan.

“The NGO feels it is high time that the RSPB put the sensible, practical approach to conservation provided by the Hen Harrier Action Plan ahead of emotive, media-friendly, sound bites, which serve only to encourage division and entrench battlelines and benefit no one in the countryside, nor its wildlife.

“The hen harrier is, in our view at least, certainly deserving of better from the UK’s largest birding organisation. Indeed, the NGO feels the RSPB, by some of its actions, is beginning to fail the hen harrier. It is the moment for common sense and reason to resume. The RSPB needs to work with us and other like-minded organisations for the mutual good of birds and people.”

The NGO stands for gamekeeping within the law and condemns absolutely all wildlife crime, including raptor persecution. Wherever it occurs, persecution must stop, which is why the NGO is actively involved in the Partnership for Action Against Wildlife Crime.

The NGO does not condone raptor persecution in any way, but the public and the media should remember that crimes against birds of prey are rare, and the illegal, ill-judged actions of the very few should not be used to tarnish the good reputation of the gamekeeping profession as a whole. Gamekeepers are among the best and most effective conservationists in today’s countryside. Where driven grouse shooting ceases, science shows wildlife declines quickly follow.

To read today’s RSPB’s press release, click here

To find out more about the action plan to increase hen harrier populations in England click here

Notes to Editors
The National Gamekeepers' Organisation represents the gamekeepers of England and Wales. It defends and promotes gamekeeping, gamekeepers and ensures high standards throughout the profession. It was founded in 1997 by a group of gamekeepers who felt that their profession was threatened by public misunderstanding and poor representation. The NGO has around 12,000 members. www.nationalgamekeepers.org.uk