Disgusted staff walked out en masse from the RSPB's reserve at Coquet Island after the charity decided to sack a much respected and liked long time warden, Dr. Paul Morrison, in favour of a Syrian named Dr Ibrahim Alfarwi.
One of the volunteers who walked out claimed that the RSPB wanted to replace a “privileged old English white man” because it fitted with “their diversity agenda”.
The sacking came after claims Dr. Paul had treated Dr Ibrahim Alfarwi like a modern-day slave. The claims were strongly disputed by Dr. Paul, and he took the RSPB to court for unfair dismissal, and he won substantial damages.
In further embarrassment for the RSPB, the Syrian was then later filmed 'torturing' a Skua by standing on it for four minutes, before wringing its neck and smashing its head against a rock. The torture is more akin to what you might have expected from Assad's torture chambers.
Speaking to GB News at the time Lord Ridley, a frequent visitor to Coquet Island – which he described as “a fabulous bird reserve” – said that “since Paul has no longer been on the island, it has been clear to me that it’s not being as well managed as it was. So I think this is a disgraceful episode of treating someone badly, and putting at risk a wildlife conservation success story.”
The RSPB’s Chief Operating Officer, Dr James Robinson, wrote in a blog this week that: “We have thorough, fair and legal processes and procedures that we follow when dealing with staff issues. We take pride in being an organisation which is committed to ensuring all employees and volunteers are treated fairly and reasonably.”
He added: "we’ll keep proving the critics wrong by focusing on delivering what we do day in day out: world class conservation, bringing species back from the brink."
I suspect the tortured Skua and the many disappointed visitors to the Coquet Islands may think differently about what constitutes 'conservation'.