Police in Northern Ireland last week joined forces with officers from the Northern Ireland Environment Agency and the Health & Safety Executive (NI) to conduct a search of premises in one of the region’s most notorious raptor- poisoning blackspots.
The search focused on premises in the Drumbanagher area of Co. Armagh following the discovery of a Carbofuran-poisoned buzzard last October. The Drumbanagher/Poyntzpass area is known for its commercial game-shooting interests.
A dead cat was found during the search and has been sent for analysis.
We’ve blogged about this location before. Here’s the list of known (to us) victims:
2006: 1 x poisoned buzzard (type of poison unknown).
2008: 4 x poisoned buzzards (Alphachloralose).
2009: 2 x poisoned red kites (Alphachloralose). One bird survived, the other one didn’t.
2011: 1 x dead buzzard found under a hedge. Too decomposed for analysis.
2011: 3 x dead buzzards, suspected poisoning, but carcasses removed before police attendance. 1 x poisoned magpie (Alphachloralose).
2012: Another poisoned buzzard (Alphachloralose), reportedly the ’36th dead buzzard’ found in this area.
2014: 1 x poisoned buzzard (Carbofuran).
Our previous blogs on this area here and here.
Article on last week’s police search from Farming Life here
Raptor Persecution UK 
It doesn’t seem to matter, Scotland, England, Ireland, wherever there are commercial game shooting interests, criminals are at work killing protected species, especially birds of prey & by the most evil of methods. At least in Scotland, earlier this mouth we may finally have seen a Government that by its action has shown it is determined to eradicate this lawlessness.
The police statement seems a littele disingenuous!…Instances of insecticide spread over fields…no mention of its common use as an illegal use on baits to kill raptors, foxes and cats then…