A man has been arrested and bailed over the illegal killing of red kites in Cumbria. At least three kites are known to have been illegally killed since the reintroduction project began in August 2010. Two were shot (see reports here and here) and one was poisoned (see here).
The arrest followed a police raid on a farm (currently un-named) in the Ulverston area on Tuesday, during which a number of firearms and illegally held poisons were seized.
A Cumbria Police spokesman said the man was arrested on suspicion of intentionally killing a protected wild bird and on suspicion of poisoning and firearms offences. According to the Westmorland Gazette, the man has been released without charge and bailed until July 21st.
Raptor Persecution UK 
Now that cheered me up…lets hope theyve got the right man…and most important, they can make the charges stick in Court…without possession of poisons or illegal firearms being, once again, treated as “minor technical matters” after half the charges have been dropped to save time and money.
Lets hope they make it stick this time and throw the book at him, nothing less than maximum sentences for each offence. I await the outcome with maybe a smigeon of anticipation if not expectation !!!
nirofo.
The Cumbria Police seem to be a tad better than ours at catching wildlife killers. Lets hope the charges stick and the punishment is severe.