Press release from Hertfordshire Police, 26 September 2017:
Officers from Hertfordshire Constabulary’s Rural Operational Support Team (ROST) are appealing for witnesses and information after a buzzard was found seriously injured.
The bird was found by a member of the public on a track leading off Ledgemore Lane, Great Gaddesden, Hemel Hemstead on Wednesday September 6th 2017.
The bird was recovered and examined by a veterinaty surgeon. It was concluded that the bird had been shot and sadly, due to the severity of its injuries, the animal had to be put to sleep.
PC Simon Tibbett, from ROST, said: “All British wild birds, their nests and their eggs are protected under the Wildlife & Countryside Act 1981. Therefore it is an offence to shoot a buzzard or interfere with their nests in any way and punishable by a fine or up to six months in jail.
As a bird of prey, buzzard persecution is monitored by DEFRA and the National Wildlife Crime Unit as raptor persecution is a national wildlife crime priority.
We take wildlife crime very seriously in Hertfordshire and we are keen to trace those responsible for this offence. I would urge anyone with information to please get in touch“.
Jenny Shelton, Investigations Liaisons Officer at the RSPB said, “I think we speak for most people when we say we are angry and saddened to hear that someone has shot this bird.
Our UK population of buzzards dropped during the 20th century due to unlawful killing, and sadly persecution is still a problem today. If you know anything about this incident, please contact police on 101 or the RSPB Investigations team on 01767-680551“.
Anyone who has witnessed people shooting or carrying hunting rifles in the area, or has any further information, should contact PC Simon Tibbett on Hertfordshire Constabulary’s non-emergency number 101, quoting reference D1/17/7143.
ENDS
Two more buzzard shootings were reported from nearby London Colney in April 2017, both believed to have been shot with an air rifle – see here.
Buzzard photo by RPUK
Raptor Persecution UK 
Not much history of Raptor Persecution around here. suspect these could be local yobs
Since this may be due to scrotes with air-rifles perhaps the countryside brigade will help out in this case. The fact that the body was found does suggest the lack of professional involvement.
Shame the member of the public did not blog about about, nor the police release a call for information, on the 6th of September. No chance of getting a result now, by design I’m sure. All other crimes get publicised within a day or so, within hours if it involves damage to police property or political protest. You try doing some criminal damage to a cop car (but don’t, seriously, this is just hypothetical) and I guarantee it’ll be out for publicity within a couple of hours. If that long.
Suspicion of wildlife crime should not be taking this long for press releases to come out.
It would be interesting indeed to see some research on the length of time it takes the police to put out appeals for information about a crime and how it varies (or not) according to the crime, the force involved and other circumstances. At the very least it would be useful to have a ‘baseline’ by which to judge whether or not the police are dragging their heels on certain crimes or categories of crime.
Was it shotgun pellets or an air rifle pellet? [Ed: the rest of this comment has been deleted as it is racist and encourages violence]
Every time I hear of another Buzzard being killed, I can’t help bit worry that some readers will assume this is an unusual occurrence. Just like all reports of raptors being killed, it represents only the small tip of a very large iceberg. As someone has already pointed out, gamekeepers are extremely careful to avoid being caught in the act, and hide the corpses immediately. There must be many hundreds illegally shot each year.