Anti Poaching Alliance

wexfordman2

Following on from discussions on this thread http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2057128203&page=9 which raised a number of suggestions regarding setting up an national anti poaching alliance dedicated to highlighting, campaigning and lobying against poaching, it was suggested we create a poll as a kick off to gauge interest.

Without getting into detail, but a brief outline of what was discussed (you can read the above thread for a bit more detail), the "alliance" (lets call it that for now), would strive to raise awareness of poaching activity, the risks and dangeres, the threats to safety and conservation etc. Some proposals included a website and media campaign, local information campaigns,advertisements, signage (similar to neighbourhood watch type setup), advising farmers and local communites how to identify and report suspicious activity.

It would have a nationwide aspect, but be driven on the ground local groups, who know the areas well and are aware of the issues locally.

It would require a level of funding, suggested sources would be local member fees, and contributions from interested organisations and groups.

Anyway, thats a brief of what was discussed on the thread, as mentioned have a look in thelinked thread for more info.

If possible, can we keep the thread to the point, its simply about whether people would be willing to get involved and to what level.


Also discussed was if we could request a specific forum on poaching in boards. Mods is this possible ?

wexfordman2

http://www.shootingtimes.co.uk/news/539931/Antipoaching_posters_launched.html

mallards

The initiative is quite local to me so very much appreciated.

http://m.midulstermail.co.uk/news/local-news/video-operation-wild-deer-targets-poachers-1-5362952

Sparks

wexfordman2 wrote: »

Also discussed was if we could request a specific forum on poaching in boards. Mods is this possible ?

Awkward for two main reasons:
1) the more forums on the site, the more the hamsters have to run, and that drives up the overall cost of the site (not to mention dilutes things - when you have ten thousand forums on a site, nobody knows where to post and the community ethos dies almost as fast as if you only had one);
2) what you're proposing, if done wrong, could be a litigation magnet. Post up a photo, say "This guy's a poacher", and congratulations, welcome to defamation lawsuit land, do not pass go, do not have the money to pay your mortgage bills this month...

Fallow01

wexfordman2 wrote: »

Following on from discussions on this thread http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2057128203&page=9 which raised a number of suggestions regarding setting up an national anti poaching alliance dedicated to highlighting, campaigning and lobying against poaching, it was suggested we create a poll as a kick off to gauge interest.

Without getting into detail, but a brief outline of what was discussed (you can read the above thread for a bit more detail), the "alliance" (lets call it that for now), would strive to raise awareness of poaching activity, the risks and dangeres, the threats to safety and conservation etc. Some proposals included a website and media campaign, local information campaigns,advertisements, signage (similar to neighbourhood watch type setup), advising farmers and local communites how to identify and report suspicious activity.

It would have a nationwide aspect, but be driven on the ground local groups, who know the areas well and are aware of the issues locally.

It would require a level of funding, suggested sources would be local member fees, and contributions from interested organisations and groups.

Anyway, thats a brief of what was discussed on the thread, as mentioned have a look in thelinked thread for more info.

If possible, can we keep the thread to the point, its simply about whether people would be willing to get involved and to what level.


Also discussed was if we could request a specific forum on poaching in boards. Mods is this possible ?

Everything suggested here is already done by the Wild Deer Association of Ireland

Campaigns - shine a light on poaching, report a wildlife crime

Media - they are regularly on TV, radio and newspapers

They organise poaching patrols

They organised a wildlife crime conference last year

They are involved in many of the convictions we have seen recently

They operate through social media

All for FREE! Why try fix it when it's not broken!

wexfordman2

mallards wrote: »

The initiative is quite local to me so very much appreciated.

http://m.midulstermail.co.uk/news/local-news/video-operation-wild-deer-targets-poachers-1-5362952

That's absolutely what we need I think. Wonder can we get a bit more information in what they have been doing, might be worth shouting the cai on it, do you have any local contact who was involved?

mallards

Not directly, I'd say the best point of contact is the CAI. Although I'm booked on the DSC level 1 at the end of next month so I might be able to get more local contacts then.

Grizzly 45

Fallow01 wrote: »

All for FREE! Why try fix it when it's not broken!

NO such thing as a FREE anything.. :rolleyes:

Fallow01

Grizzly 45 wrote: »

NO such thing as a FREE anything.. :rolleyes:

True but no one paid, no big expenses is as close as you'll get

Grizzly 45

What do WADI get out of it??Do they get to extend their remit outside Coilte lets??As they have been pushing for a few years now??Ever since the rumour Coilte was up for sale in the great Irish state asset sell off??
Cozy number there a monopoly on doing the only "approved" deer stalker exam here the HCAP. Technically illegal these days under fair trade and anti cartel laws ..
As I said best they stay in their Coilte leases and within their remit, Feel it would be too much a deal with the devil if they start pushing the HCAP out in te rest of the field.But if they dont mind a bit of fair competition and another organisation setting up and offering the same training.........

Capercaille

Where would funds for a potential anti-poaching alliance come from?

Fallow01

Grizzly 45 wrote: »

What do WADI get out of it??Do they get to extend their remit outside Coilte lets??As they have been pushing for a few years now??Ever since the rumour Coilte was up for sale in the great Irish state asset sell off??
Cozy number there a monopoly on doing the only "approved" deer stalker exam here the HCAP. Technically illegal these days under fair trade and anti cartel laws ..
As I said best they stay in their Coilte leases and within their remit, Feel it would be too much a deal with the devil if they start pushing the HCAP out in te rest of the field.But if they dont mind a bit of fair competition and another organisation setting up and offering the same training.........

I think enough WDAI members like me have been on here over the years that everyone by now knows its just a group of like minded stalkers running free events and lobbying to improve our sport, no one gets paid or anything else

Most WDAI members that I know don't have Coillte lettings and just private ground. A quick scan of the Coillte brochure for deer lettings and you'll see there is a lot of empty lettings in recent years.

If I had a euro for every time I've read a rant and always wrong from a few here about the HCAP I'd be a rich man :rolleyes: or I'd swear its a plug for another organisation I can think which has great expenses

Like the trained hunter course for game dealers I can remember it been said here that anyone can run the HCAP exam. Having sat the exam the WDAI run preparation workshops for its members but not the exam they are part of the deer alliance which does run it and is made up of loads of groups, orgs etc........

I thought this thread was about poaching

luvhuntin

Whats the story with the trained hunter course yous have been going on about for 100EUR FAllow?

wexfordman2

luvhuntin wrote: »

Whats the story with the trained hunter course yous have been going on about for 100EUR FAllow?

Bump, just to keep the poll up

djflawless

I think if I could, I'd be on the committee for this.
Poachers need to be stopped but it has to come at a reasonable price.
Can't be getting into debt over it either.

But first and foremost people need to realise that reporting a poacher isn't "being a rat or snitch" but merely protecting something that's had way too much bad publicity as it is.
At least if there was somewhere for people to report offenders and feel safe about it, it might make the anti's realise we don't all break every rule put out for us

wexfordman2

Well,

With the season over, and a bit of time on my hands, I thought maybe this might be worth bringing up again.
The poll showed over 75% of people (albeit low numbers overall) wanted to see, or would support some form of anti poaching alliance.

There are a number of people who commented etc, that there was already a program of some form in existance (wdai shine a light on poaching being one that I am aware of for example), and one poster also linked to a program up north by the CAI which engaged local community and psni etc. I think the CAI progam invovled advertising and leaflet drops etc.

I still think that there needs to be some co-ordianted and structured approach to poaching, and much of this has to relate to on the ground communication and awareness to local communities etc. There is potential to tie in/liase with local community organsisations such as neighbourhood watch, text alert programs etc.

With the recent bait of robberies in rural areas etc, there is certainly an awareness among local communities of the need to know what is going on in their areas, and to be alert to unusual occurrances at night etc.

There also is a need for lobbying at a political and departmental level for example npws, etc, and to directly tackle the poor/perceived poor regulation among game dealers etc.

Being a memeber of wdai myself (although I must renew this year), I know the membership fee is very low, and I certainly dont think there would be a significant amount of money to be spent on local anti poaching measures etc. This is not a criticism of them, its just my point of view, that the money may not be present to pay for the level of activity that is required.

So, I still think the idea of an anti-poaching alliance is something worth pushing for, but perhaps we should be pushing the various hunting organisations to club together to form this alliance, with a remit only on anti-poaching, something that all organsiations should surely easily agree on.

The advantage is shared funding, rather than sporadic or duplicated time and money being spent etc. Could we push our respective organisations, CAI, NARGC, WDAI, and other impacted organisations such as NPWS, coillte, IFA etc to club together here and form an alliance against poaching ?