A well-known peregrine has been found dead in the grounds of St Columb’s Cathedral in Derry and is suspected to have been poisoned.
The bird was found on Saturday and the carcass has been sent for toxicology tests.
BBC news story here
A well-known peregrine has been found dead in the grounds of St Columb’s Cathedral in Derry and is suspected to have been poisoned.
The bird was found on Saturday and the carcass has been sent for toxicology tests.
BBC news story here
Raptor Persecution UK 
I often wonder what the limits are, if any, to human selfishness and brutality. No animal seems safe, we destroy everything we touch. Poor bird. So sad.
I want to say “wait until the test results are in” but still I have this taste in my mouth, that bitter taste of cynicism that tells me no matter what we say or do there are still people in this world who’s brains are just not capable of developing beyond the neanderthal.
May have died due to natural causes, its not that easy to poison a peregrine, they are not really carrion eaters and like to catch their own food. They could though be poisoned at their nest, but certainly not at this time of year, and even then try getting a dead pigeon up to the nest site, not easy. We will wait for the pm result.
It’s actually very easy to poison a peregrine. Just look through some of the previous peregrine poisoning cases, or attempted poisoning cases, on this blog, to see the common method employed. It usually involves a maimed, tethered pigeon that has been smothered with poison, placed within the peregrine’s territory.
If it’s the case that the bird has been poisoned,then I hope the person or persons who are responsible read this because I would hate for you to remain yet another faceless coward.So if we could see what you look like that would be great ……No ? yeah that’s what I thought .
In the grounds of a cathedral, eh? That should earn someone some tough karma, if the bird has been poisoned?