Skewed view of wildlife crime

The view of the Scottish Gamekeepers’ Association, as expressed in Bert Burnett’s letter (10 December), that the number of people perpetrating wildlife crime is "very low" is spin of the worst order. He knows full well, as does everyone else who works in Scotland’s countryside, that the number of birds identified as poisoned in the government report of 2002 is only the tip of a large iceberg.

It is very difficult for police to obtain the evidence of wildlife crime. Officers cannot be expected to scour every moor and mountain looking for the remains of persecuted birds and animals. Only those reported by the public are investigated, and these are discovered by chance. That there were 92 such investigations for birds alone in 2002 is itself a shocking statistic, but it is, by straightforward extrapolation, merely an indication of a much larger problem.

Mr Burnett claims that, of the 92, "only 19 were confirmed poisonings". This is incorrect. The report clearly states that 24 cases were caused by pesticide poisoning. In a further 30 cases a different cause of death was identified - and many of these were criminal cases.

Mr Burnett recently admitted to the Scottish Parliament that 20 per cent of his members refuse to co-operate with police investigations of wildlife crime. The SGA has no right to lecture RSPB Scotland or anybody else on this subject.

DUNCAN ORR-EWING

RSPB Scotland

Ravelston Terrace

Edinburgh