North Yorkshire’s shameful catalogue of raptor killing crimes just got a bit longer.
North Yorkshire Police are appealing for information after the discovery of a shot sparrowhawk at Feldom, Richmond.
The bird is believed to have been shot some time during the last week of April in the area of High Waitgate, close to the Marske to Newsham Road, just a few miles north of the Yorkshire Dales National Park.
An x-ray revealed this bird died from shotgun injuries, probably shot from close range.
Anyone with information please contact Police Wildlife Crime Officer Mark Wood (Tel: 101) quoting reference number 12170073101.
X-ray from North Yorkshire Police.
Raptor Persecution UK 
Scum with a gun.
GIven that Kites and other larger BOPS have more or less been wiped out in these areas in recent years, I guess these criminals are now moving on to smaller fare in form of Sparrowhawks
Yet another gun crime in Yorkshire, surely this shows the current gun licensing laws are completely inadequate and outdated, how many idiots have been given gun licenses in Yorkshire?
ANYTHING with a hooked beak
Once again the silent response from the GWCT to yet more Gun Crime from members of the shooting fraternity will, no doubt, be deafening, but will speak volumes in reflecting their true attitude to the criminal element in their ranks! :-(
Keepers working in & around the Yorkshire Dales National Park need to hang their heads in shame, as England’s Gun Crime Capital of North Yorkshire’s, shameful catalogue of raptor killing crimes just gets longer & longer!
Police ask the public for information, but why bother, because even when clear video evidence is produced, we get no convictions & these criminals go free!
We all know that some Keepers shoot Sparrowhawks, but I often wonder just how many Cuckoos have been shot by these criminals, because their bird identification skills are so poor! :-(
There is most definitely something rotten in the state of Denmark!
Given that there is an epidemic of illegal bird of prey killings by shooting in North Yorkshire, couldn’t the police threaten to rescind all shotgun licences within their area unless the killing stops?
Personally, I just don’t think the police care about widlife crime at all. It is is all sound bites, appeasement of the criminals’ and the organisations that harbour them, and no action.