An Open Letter.

Dear Dr Walton

RSPB Thugs!

I was very interested to read your letter in the (Glasgow) Herald on 1
June 2006 and welcome your suggestion that those who would seek to
kill gulls could be determined as "thugs". How right you are!

For years I have been branding organisations such as the RSPB, The
Woodland Trust and Wildlife Trusts as "conservation thugs" because
they deliberately kill numerous species of wildlife to suit their
particular agendas. It seems you have now endorsed my accusations.

So where does this leave the RSPB?

Does it continue with its thuggish behavior towards wildlife or is it
about to take the advice of its Policy and Habitats Officer and
co-exist peacefully with other species?

I look forward to your reply.


A Macmillan


PS. For the benefit of those who did not have the opportunity to read
your letter, I have copied it below.


Letter published in the (Glasgow) Herald 1 June 2006


Gulls are not thugs, but wild animals

THE tone of your article about gulls (May 30) is unhelpful. These are
wild birds; they require food and a place to breed. RSPB Scotland
regularly advises that, where gulls are causing distress, action needs
to be taken well ahead of the breeding season to reduce the
availability of waste food on city streets and to install the simple
proofing measures that deter birds from nesting on roofs.
Nonetheless, when each breeding season arrives, so do the hysterical
headlines demonising "seagull thugs". In turn, each year, gulls are
killed as an impulsive response.
Swooping gulls can, indeed, be frightening but these are not thugs:
they are wild animals defending and feeding their young.
Have we become so disconnected from the natural world that we can no
longer co-exist peacefully? Some gulls are in national decline. Rather
than lashing out, we should invest time and effort in discouraging
them from areas where they will cause people distress. Otherwise
perhaps it is we who are the thugs.
Dr Paul Walton, Species and Habitats Policy Officer, RSPB Scotland, 25
Ravelston Terrace, Edinburgh.



Angus Macmillan
www.roots-of-blood.org.uk
www.killhunting.org
www.con-servation.org.uk