This week we have been covering some of the risks to the public that arise from the activities of wildlife criminals and we have had a number of suggestions, some of which we have published, on how these risks can be minimised.

Scotland is bringing in a licensing system for driven grouse moors and we feel that this could do much to reduce the risks to the public of poorly managed snares, sloppy firearms safety and the scattering of lethal poisons in the countryside.

The licensing system needs to require that management and employees are competent in the roles they are undertaking. As past cases have shown many gamekeepers are clearly not up to the job. They are unable to recognise that some of their colleagues dogs are suffering serious injuries consistent with being involved in animal fights. They are unable to spot poisoned baits placed on the land that they are paid to manage. They are unable to notice that some of their colleagues are storing poison in sheds and homes. They fail to realise that some colleagues are breaking the conditions of their firearms licenses in a way that puts everyone at serious risk. On some occasions they have failed to realise that a pile of avian corpses behind a fellow keeper’s house are protected birds of prey rather than crows. Clearly some gamekeepers are poorly trained and not very bright.

Shoot managers should be required to employ competent staff and to monitor their activities properly. Those failing to do so should have their shoot licenses removed. They should also be banned for managing shoots in the future.

There will be some who will argue that there are always ‘a few bad apples’ but the incidence of wildlife crimes involving gamekeepers is extremely high and not reducing. Increasingly reckless acts are putting the general public at risk and action needs to be taken to keep us all safe. When even gamekeepers at the UK’s ‘Jewel in the crown’ of grouse moors have failed to spot their colleague’s criminal activity we need to ask if their training and basic intelligence really fits them for the job.