Raptor Persecution and Mountain Hare Slaughter

I have been watching closely, since last July, the Raptor Persecution site and reading the blogs.
It is easy to become despondent when one reads the list of disappearances of birds of prey, if that was not enough then there is the list of adjournments of court appearances for those accused of criminal acts in respect of wildlife. Add to that the loss of natural moorland habitat solely, it appears, for the better environment of Red Grouse. Then there is the mass slaughter of Mountain Hares that feed on heather too, in competition with the grouse.
I was brought up in a rural county where gamekeepers displayed their 'shooting' on strands of barbwire. I never really got the need for that because would it deter a crow feeding nearby? Or was it to impress the estate owner? It seemed pointless then and now, it seems, the culture of killing exists regardless of any constraints.
I have blogged before about the 'so called glorious twelfth' and made my views clear then. It could be referred to as a rant and, indeed, that is the way I feel. I will add one more and as a writer friend has said it is better to get it out of me and then I can write better poetry. However is not being subtle justified in defence of the defenceless?

I know that Edward Thomas in his poem 'Gallows' does what I need to do when he says:

'But what did that avail?
He, too, (the magpie) flaps in the wind and rain
Alongside weasel and crow
Without pleasure, without pain,
On the dead oak tree bough'



I wrote this only a few days ago after the images
of dead mountain hares had stuck in my mind
after they had been posted on a site. This
is the way that I feel about what seems to me
unacceptable and the unnecessary slaughter
of wildlife. Here it is.


Hare Mountain

Imagine the mountain side, tougher than life;
slabs of cold white accentuate dark rock
in a natural habitat of extreme strife.
But is it natural?

Moorland groomed like a paedophile would
nurture a child. Burning heather, degrading,
scarring the peat sponge that should
prevent run-off. Do they care?

New growth, fresh edible tips for grouse,
bred to satiate the gun lust of estate owners
wedded to a culture that can arouse
my ire. Is this criminality by class?

Enough. Add Flubendazole grit, poisoned bait,
traps and game keepers to erode the beauty
of animals that exist, but for them fate
determined by shotgun blast. Ignorant or what?

Photographic evidence condemns dark minds,
slaughterers of elegant hares by truck loads stand
for the photo shoot. Bloodied bodies show the signs
with an empathy with death! Do enough care?

John Edwards (C) 12/13th December 2016