Following our last post about this shocking case and the total failure to mention it by the pro grouse shooting organisations we have been keeping an eye on them to see if there was any change. The answer is a resounding NO! A serious crime admitted by a gamekeeper at the ‘jewel in the crown’ of shooting estates and not one of them has a single word to say. It is almost as if they want to pretend that it never happened and that he didn’t get caught. This complete absence of comment is particularly strange as presumably someone paid for his very expensive legal defence.

Below we list some of those normally vociferous organisations that are currently strangely quiet.

Scottish Land and Estates (SLE) Strapline “Helping Rural Scotland Thrive”: Still ZERO!

Game & Wildlife Conservation Trust (GWCT): No mention of Millden but a letter to The Times entitled “We should be supporting the game keeping community in their efforts to end wildlife crime.” We are still rolling on the floor laughing about that one! How on earth can someone say that and keep a straight face?

Scottish Gamekeepers Association (SGA) Of which this criminal probably was, and perhaps continues to be, a member: Still ZERO

British Association for Shooting and Conservation (BASC) Whose award for gamekeeping this criminal received and presumably continues to hold: Still ZERO!

Angus Glens Moorland Group (AGMG) Which covers the area in which this criminal worked and presumably counts as a member the estate on which he worked: Still ZERO!

Shooting UK (Umbrella website for Shooting Times, Sporting Gun and Airgun Shooter): Nothing since it’s article the day before the guilty plea entitled “Gamekeeping: how it can protect its future.” Might we suggest by not taking part in, supporting or failing to condemn wildlife crime.

The Hunting Life: Still ZERO!

Country Squire Magazine: Still ZERO!

Countryside Alliance (CA): Still ZERO!

Campaign for the Protection of Moorland Communities (C4PMG): Still ZERO!

There are two other sources from whom we might have expected a comment. Marie Gougeon and Alan Werrity.

Marie Gougeon is the Scottish Government’s Cabinet Secretary for Rural Affairs and Islands and has responsibility for rural Scotland and its islands, agriculture, forestry, fisheries, aquaculture, food and drink, and crofting. She suddenly announced the introduction of a grouse moor licensing scheme the afternoon before the Millden case was first due to be heard so she just might have been aware of it. Since the conviction she has said nothing.

Professor Alan Werrity is the man who chaired the Grouse Moor Management Group and whose vote as chairman apparently broke the group’s deadlock on whether driven grouse moor licensing should be introduced immediately by coming down against it. Again he has said nothing.

It is almost as if everyone involved hopes that this case will simply go away.

STRANGE ISN’T IT!