“When a man wants to murder a tiger he calls it sport. When the tiger wants to murder him he calls it ferocity”
–George Bernard Shaw.
Bob Smith comments on wildlife crime and Man’s relationship with wild animals.
Noo lit ma say richt fae the stairt ony sort o crime agin nature an wildlife fair gits ma dander up. Bit a hiv ti say there’s times fin we humans are a richt bunch o bliddy hypocrites.
Lit’s tak the case fer cullin badgers.
Ess is deen bi the governmint at the behest o the fairmin community cos they reckon the badgers cause TB in their herds o nowt an as a result are lossin siller.
Yet nae doot the same argument wid be used bi the fowk fa are pooshanin the raptors cos they’re allegedly killin their pheasants an grouse plus the odd lamb an ess is affectin the siller in THEIR pooches.
Ae sort o killin is viewed as a legal cull, yet the second een is seen as a wildlife crime. In ma een they’re baith a bliddy crime.
The pooshanin o the reid kites an buzzards up near Conon Bridge is only the tip o the iceberg fin it comes tae wildlife crime in ess kwintra an tho it micht be only a fyow neanderthal gamies an their landowner bosses fa are committin the crimes, fin they are fun oot wi shud stick een o their Purdy shotguns up their erse an lit blast wi baith barrels!!! Only jokin fowks bit wi are a bittie lenient fin it comes ti crime agin wildlife.
O coorse wildlife crime is nithin new. Awa back in Victorian times an richt up ti aroon the 1960’s fowk war blastin awa at wild animals an sic like. Back then they war ca’ed sheetin safaris an ess wis leukit upon as bein sport. Onything at moved on the African plains or in the Indian jungle wis shot at an their heids cut aff an stuffed as “Trophies”.
Nooadays wildlife crime is cairry’t oot in the same locations ti satisfy the demand fer animal pairts as medicinal cures in plaicies like China.
Bit lit’s nae forgit oor “cousins” ower in the USA.
In the “rootin, tootin aywis shootin” gun crazy America, fowk ging aboot sheetin bears, deer, dyeuks, geese etc an leuk upon thersels as great hunters.
Noo hunters I wid describe as fowk awa back fa wint aboot sheetin animals ti feed thersels. Ess lot o so ca’ed hunters gyaang aboot sheetin jist fer the sheer pleasure o’t an ca’ it sport. Maybe wi shud even things up in wir ain kwintra bi re- introducin bears, lynx an wolves back inti the wilds an mak it an offence ti sheet them.
I can jist see it noo, gamies bein confronted bi a bliddy great bear an ha’en ti turn tail an rin wi the bear in hot pursuit roarin “the beet’s on the ither fit noo ye bastard”.
I can myn o a gamie employed bi the local laird in the area far a wis brocht up bein nicknamed “Beets an Bunnet” on the accoont he wore a bliddy great big bunnet an fer his size hid affa big feet. Noo ess chiel wid sheet an ask questions efterwards if onything daar’t ti venture near his pheasants.
He wisna aat weel likit bi some o the local fowk an eventually got the bung. Gamies an landowners fa still commit wildlife crime in ess kwintra shud be jiled AND heavily fined wi their guns confiscated an gun licences revoked fer ivver.
A’ll leave the last wird ti Mahatma Ghandi fa is quoted as sayin:
“The greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the way it treats its animals”
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By Bob Smith.
