Aim to Sustain – which promotes sustainable game shooting and land management – today issued the following statement in response to the RSPB Birdcrime Report for 2020:

“There is a widespread commitment to sustainable game management in pursuit of net biodiversity gain and reports such as the RSPB Birdcrime Report will not deter us from taking that work forward.

“Obviously, any incident of raptor persecution is to be condemned and the weight of the law should be applied to those who indulge in such activity.

“That said, the efforts that are already being made to tackle raptor persecution are considerable; only three weeks ago, Aim to Sustain published a range of anti-persecution measures in furtherance of our commitment to a ‘zero-tolerance’ approach to wildlife crime. There are many other initiatives already in place, with organisations and individuals working closely with the police.

“Engagement and conservation work by the Aim to Sustain partners has played a major role in the current high number of raptors thriving in the UK. In the case of hen harriers, there has been remarkable progress in the last four years and this should be recognised and celebrated. The species is on its way to favourable status in the uplands as a direct result of individual organisations within this partnership.

“As in all walks of life, everyone should abide by the law and the overwhelming majority of people in game and land management share that view. There are many examples of outstanding species and habitat conservation work happening all over the country and game and land managers are at the heart of it. Those are the success stories that have to be built on to demonstrate that our sector is a force for good in terms of sustainability, conservation and biodiversity.”

Aim to Sustain launches ‘zero tolerance’ toolkits