South Yorkshire Police is appealing for information after a sparrowhawk was shot dead, glued to a stick, wrapped inside a plastic bag and dumped in a drainage ditch.
The grisly discovery was made by a member of the public in the Thorne area of Doncaster, close to the canal, on Sunday 10th April. The bird is believed to have been shot with a pellet gun.
[Sparrowhawk photo by Getty]
Investigating officer PC Sarah Barrowcliffe of South Yorkshire Police said:
“Sparrowhawks are a protected species and it is an offence to harm them. This was a shocking act of violence against a beautiful and defenceless bird, and officers are working hard to identify those responsible.
South Yorkshire Police is committed to the investigation of serious wildlife offences, including the killing of birds of prey.”
Anyone with information please call South Yorkshire Police on Tel 101, quoting incident number #918 of April 11th 2022.
UPDATE 30th May 2022: Photos released of shot sparrowhawk found glued to a stick and dumped in a ditch in Doncaster (here)
Raptor Persecution UK 
Absolutely appalling in every way possible.
Wait for the shooting fraternity to claim this was a suicide
Or, even worse, was it glued to a stick, shot and then dumped. My loathing for humans just keeps getting worse!
Appalling though this is, if as reported the bird was shot with a ‘pellet gun’ (air-weapon?) criticism should not be lumped in with legitimate criticism of the usual ‘game’ shooting community. Air-weapon users are usually from a rather different demographic.
Whether from a “council estate” or country estate, scum are scum, are scum.
It’s because the game shooting community has no compunction about killing birds, [ is it 64m released to be shot for fun each year?] It’s track record of Raptor persecution is second to none.
Where would be your first port of call……..
Absolutely awful I’d nail the perpetrator/s to a stick. Humans are horrible sometimes!!!!
Like one of the previous comments, I have to wonder whether the falcon was enticed to some bait, which was attached to a stick covered in glue? Once the bird landed and became stuck, did someone then shoot it? The depravity of some individuals to behave in such a deplorable way often makes me wonder if some people are naturally born evil, or have just failed to evolve like the rest of humanity?
Some time spent snooping around the pigeon lofts/ allotments etc in the area would I bet be useful if there is a keen police officer with the time available and the interest.
I agree, this ‘feels’ like a pigeon loft type incident. One of these idiots killed a peregrine local to me 3 or so years ago. I