We have blogged on a number of occasions about the much awaited Werrity Report which was greeted with much sighing. Sighs of relief, sighs of disappointment and sighs of exasperation.

For many years now the Scottish Government has been assuring us that it values the countries natural heritage and wants to preserve it for all citizens. For many years now a small number of individuals have been doing their best to destroy parts of that heritage. Much has rightly been made of the incidents of raptor persecution but little is mentioned of the utter carnage to mammal populations, frequently referred as ‘vermin’ by many land managers. For many years ministers and cabinet secretaries have been promising tough action to tackle the problem and the police have sought to publicise their various new initiatives to enforce that law but the total sum of all this talk is ABSOLUTELY NOTHING! So what is the way forward now?

There will be much talk of the proposed new sentencing powers and no doubt some groups will push hard for them to be allowed to ‘bed in’ before anything else is done. Combined with Werrity’s suggestions this line will carry some weight and we might be looking at putting action off for another five years. Back in 2007 during the Scottish Parliament’s first debate on wildlife crime the then Solicitor General for Scotland Frank Mulholland QC said: “It is essential for the economic health and successful biodiversity of our nation that we have protected, thriving wildlife. Wildlife is an inheritance to be cherished and the criminal law has an important part to play in its protection.”—[Official Report, 4 October 2007; c 2497.] “Protected, thriving wildlife” where? With a considerable number of our land managers referring to large parts of our biodiversity as ‘vermin’ what chance is there of biodiversity?

We have have had debates, reports, partnerships, training courses and ‘last chance’ statements without number. What is now needed is action. Killing raptors is illegal. Hunting wild mammals with dogs is illegal. Badger baiting is illegal yet all are regularly taking place in Scotland with relative impunity. In a democracy we must ALL respect the law whether or not we agree with individual legislation. Government has an important role not merely in passing laws but in ensuring that they are enforced. We appreciate that recent events will have unsettled the government and drawn attention from other matters but it is time to get back to day to day business and the Cabinet Secretary for the Environment, Climate Change and Land Reform needs to set out very soon her plans to tackle the situation if she wishes herself and the Scottish Government to be taken seriously.