A three-month old red kite has been found shot dead in County Down, Northern Ireland.
The bird, hatched in May and tagged ‘Black 5W’, was found dead on a public road last Thursday (17 August 2017) outside Moneyslane, between Banbridge and Newcastle.
An initial x-ray revealed pieces of shot in the bird’s corpse and the body has now been sent for a full post-mortem.
Anyone with information on the incident can contact the Police Service of Northern Ireland on the non-emergency number 101 or anonymously via Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111, quoting reference number 837 of 17/8/17.
Further details on BBC News (here) and the Belfast Telegraph (here).
The tiny, reintroduced red kite population in Northern Ireland is under serious threat from on-going persecution. Another red kite was found shot in Co Down in 2015 (here) and in 2014, four kites were illegally killed in Co Down (one was shot, three were poisoned – see here).
In 2016, in response to a PAW report on raptor persecution in Northern Ireland, a new, multi-agency initiative called ‘Operation Raptor‘ was launched, aimed at targeting those who continue to kill protected birds of prey.
Raptor Persecution UK 
More gun control needed!
https://www.drinkdriving.org/drink_driving_statistics_uk.php
More car licence control needed?
http://www.express.co.uk/news/nature/683078/badger-gang-cruelty-crusade-animal-torture-sick-film
Tighter control on dog ownership?
Gun licensing in the UK is already one of the strictest on the planet. It involves check of convictions and access to medical records. So if your argument is specifically ‘more gun control’ (a rather ambiguous statement) as opposed to a general anti-shooting narrative it doesn’t solve the problem of raptor persecution. How many raptors are poisoned by already-banned substances? How many raptors are killed by traps set in an already-illegal manner? It’s not the tool of choice that’s the issue, it’s the fact that some people (and I’ll refrain from tarring all shooters, as I am one and would happily rip a raptor persecutor limb from limb) still think that persecuting our raptors is a risk worth taking. If penalties were harsher and greater resources directed at investigation and prosecution then it would go some way towards acting as a meaningful deterrent. I’d have no hesitation in throwing away the key for anyone caught killing a raptor, but glib responses that don’t really deal with the issue aren’t the most constructive.