News
Scottish estate owners face charges over raptor poisonings
<strong>Scottish environment minister is calling for estate owners to be made liable for raptors found poisoned on their land</strong>
Would you like to speak to our readers? We offer sponsored articles and advertising to put you in front of our audience. Find out more.
Scotland?s estate owners will be made criminally responsible for birds of prey illegally killed on their land under plans being ?actively considered? by Roseanna Cunningham, the SNP environment minister. Roseanna Cunningham confirmed she is looking at making estate owners throughout Scotland liable for the actions of their employees, including gamekeepers who are found to have illegally disposed of raptors.
The minister is also examining whether to lower the standard of proof so that it is not necessary to show that land managers meant to kill the bird. The presence of a carcase and the relevant poison on the estate may be enough for a conviction.
Miss Cunningham said it is ?very likely? she will introduce one or more of the proposals by tabling amendments to the Wildlife Bill, currently going through the Scottish Parliament.
The rest of this article appears in 6th October issue of Shooting Times.
What is YOUR opinion?
Join other ST readers in our forums to discuss your views.
Like this article? Mark this page on a social bookmarking website…
Related articles
News
How we’ll manage threatened species
We need to argue our case if a policy on harvesting threatened species sustainably overseas feeds into a UK review, says Conor O’Gorman.