Birds of prey report exposes upper-class bloodlust

A disgusting new report has landed from the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) and it’s damning.

Between 2015 and 2024, there were 921 illegal attacks on protected birdlife across the UK and the data shows that criminals are targeting raptors in disgustingly cruel ways.

The charity’s Patterns of Persecution report also states that more than half of these confirmed kills have taken place near or on land managed for game shooting. These are the hunting grounds of the wealthy and the landed gentry, so of course, this needless slaughter is being driven by profit.

Their excuse? Gamekeepers slaughter innocent birds of prey to stop them eating young pheasants, partridges and grouse.

I don’t get it. Why are they complaining so much when they’re releasing millions of these birds artificially only to murder them themselves anyway?

Bird killings are ‘relentless’, RSPB says

RSPB’s report exposes the bloody playground of corrupt wealthy people. It’s a place where landowners swan around like they’re above the law and sentient life. Even the lives of our rare birdlife, means nothing to them.

These wealthy knuckle-draggers pay vast sums to shoot these animals for nothing more than entertainment. Driven by financial incentives, corporate rural estates ruthlessly and systematically wipe out native predators.

This barbaric industry treats majestic, protected birds as nothing but vermin that threaten profits. They don’t give a shit if they’re damaging ecosystems or decimating protected species. All they care about is their systematic class violence and lining their own pockets.

And this argument of protecting pheasants is absolute crap when it’s they themselves who release 40 million of them into our countryside each year, just to slaughter them.

But now, the RSPB has revealed the facts about this direct human violence that shields this bloody, upper-class trade.

British landowners are avoiding all accountability for allowing these illegal shoots to happen on their property. They just don’t give a damn about the laws that everyday people like me and you have to adhere to. (One rule for them.)

They don’t just kill, they torture

Shooting is still the most frequent method of death for hunted birds in the UK. Some 443 birds lost their lives to a gun, the RSPB found. Gamekeepers also lace dead animals with banned pesticides, which wreaks havoc on local predators.

These murderers use illegal pole traps that clamp heavy frames around birds’ legs, which causes an agonisingly slow death.

In 2022, investigators discovered the mutilated corpse of a tracked hen harrier named Free. He was discovered near the North Yorkshire border. Both his legs and head had been ripped from his body whilst he was still alive. To make it worse, a post-mortem of the poor creature revealed that this torture could have only been carried out by human hands.

The same year, four helpless chicks were found stamped to death inside their nest.

A motion-activated camera had been set up by Natural England to monitor the progress of the chicks, but footage was interrupted one evening by a bright artificial light which obscured the camera’s view.

Some vile rich criminal then left mother bird, Susie, as the lone survivor. The poor mother tried to feed her dead chicks the next morning.

I don’t get it. What is it about rich people that they find some kind of comfort in cruelty? It’s twisted, it’s wrong and these horrible little polyps need to be brought to justice. Their indifference to life is something indicative of something deeper and darker inside of them, and they need to be stopped.

Local extinctions for profit

This silent but unending onslaught has ruinous impacts on wild bird populations. We have highly vulnerable species, such as the hen harrier, being amongst the hardest hit by this vile industry.

Studies reveal that the average lifespan on a young harrier after fledging in the UK is only 121 days. During this decade-long study, exactly 100 tagged harriers completely disappeared, with a suspicious 79% of them doing so over grouse hunting grounds.

The golden eagle faces the exact same campaign of extinction.

Between 2015 and 2024, 19 of these birds that were being tracked by satellites, completely vanished without a trace in Scotland. Of these, 16 of their last noted locations were on or near grouse moors.  Another 14 confirmed golden eagle kills were logged over the same period. Many of these were due to nest destruction, shooting and poisoning.

Criminals will go to any lengths to hide their needless murder. In 2020, people hiking along the Perthshire River pulled a missing golden eagle’s satellite tracker out of the water. It was wrapped in heavy lead sheeting to trap the signal and to hide their crimes.

Legal loopholes, just for the rich

This corporate shooting industry is decimating OUR local wildlife and it operates with absolute impunity. Landowners face no accountability, tucked up on their vast, private estates. Hidden away, these offenders avoid justice and any meaningful penalties.

Despite nearly 1,000 documented crimes, courts have only convicted 24 people in this 10-year period.

On grouse moors specifically, only four people were convicted for a total of 190 crimes. That means these rich gamekeepers have a 98% chance of escaping justice. In short, corporate shooting groups are fighting against any regulation.

The British Association for Shooting and Conservation opposes licensing, claiming it adds unnecessary rules. But it’s very bloody evident that we cannot leave these rich estates to police themselves.

What this report reiterates is that it’s time to enforce strict licensing laws across the country. We need to stand up and end the commercialised murder of our wildlife.

How many more protected birds need to die before the government gets off its arse and stops protecting rich bloodsports?

Featured image via RSPB