North Yorkshire Police is appealing for witnesses after the discovery of an injured red kite found ‘in suspicious circumstances’ in the Whitby area on Tuesday morning (13 June 2023).
The kite was later euthanised by vets due to the severity of its injuries.
Unfortunately no other details are available.
If you have any information in relation to this incident please contact PC 774 Jack Donaldson: jack.donaldson@northyorkshire.police.uk
UPDATE 17th June 2023: Red kite found shot in North York Moors National Park: police appeal for information (here).
Raptor Persecution UK 
Well I have known since spending a few days in this area exactly what goes on over the moors in this part of Yorkshire after having a chat with a local farmer who was most unhappy with the behaviour of some of the local members of the community on his land but powerless to stop them so I don’t think the phone at the local nick will get any busier. Alan
Sent from Yahoo Mail on Android
I hope your never on jury lol
Biased much?
You would of been burning witches cos they didn’t sink in the pond your type
The North Yorkshire Police website reports the bird was found suffering from gunshot wounds near Westerdale near the North Yorks Moors.
The police report suggests the gunshot wounds were fresh, indicating a recent shooting incident. Westerdale is surrounded by grouse moors.
Westerdale is also in the North Yorkshire Moors National Park.
If a protected bird of prey isn’t safe from illegal persecution in a National Park then where will it be safe?
This is every reason why the UK government MUST introduce grouse moor licensing across the whole of the UK, and help rid our countryside of the criminals who operate so freely on the grouse moors.
I am thoroughly sick to death of reading these reports of criminal persecution of birds of prey, and tired of a shooting industry which fails to acknowledge the extent of raptor persecution which is taking place.
Credit to North Yorkshire Police for this rapid press appeal of an incident which took place only 3 days ago.
My partner and I seen that red kite on way home from tea out at Blakey Inn on Saturday 10th June approximately 1900 hrs,we have seen a pair and a single red kite over the last 2 weeks .
We went back Tuesday the 13th June 1800 hrs there is a bench that you can sit on looking over the moor to see if we could catch them on camera and there was no sign. My partner had seen them coming out of the wood at a nearby farm and thought they must be nesting . That new is just so terrible can’t believe it.
We went out over Bransdale moor on old motorcycle yesterday and called for a cuppa at Hornby cafe only to be told by the owner that 5 buzzards had been found dumped on bransdale moor . So this also spoilt our day like most people we are passionate about all living creatures and can’t get our heads round this disgusting behavior. I DESPAIR something drastic needs to be done .
.
I would like to add we heard gunshot that night same time but thought they were shooting rabbit or pigeons but we’ll never know !!
I think we need to introduce stronger regulations for holding a gun licence, I would have thought sight would be tested, clearly not though.
To be unable to distinguish between a fat slow moving grouse, and a majestic red kite, or buzzard, I hope these people don’t have a driving licence.
The truth unfortunately is the laws regarding birds of prey are just not fit for purpose, and gun licencing is inadequate to put it bluntly.
There needs to be a log held by anyone with a gun licence, this log should be filled in when a person takes a gun out, it should show location, time, how many shots taken, to start with.
Or perhaps all guns should have a tracker fitted, which lregisters all shots taken, exact location, time, date etc.
I feel this alone would stop most bird of prey shooting, it would leave it open to the thousands of unregistered guns, they would be a bigger problem, and harder to deal with.
I also believe all shooting estates should be held accountable for any bird of prey killed on or near their land, typically this is where the most incidents happen.
If the government don’t act now it will just continue, and all the excellent work done to bring back these amazing birds of prey will have been a complete waste of time, and money, not to mention the cruelty, and ignorance shown by the shooting industry, if they can’t stop shooting birds of prey, remove their guns, and licensing, after all they are very aware of the laws, in fact probably more knowledgeable than most, however with the knowledge that its almost impossible to identify an individual shooter because of the slack laws, and control.
Why are they still releasing grouse to be hunted and shot?, what actual purpose does it serve, apart from making an obscene amount of money for landowners, and shooting estate managers , it has absolutely no other purpose, and I am sure the grouse are not keen on what is happening, nor are the birds of prey which are being killed to protect the game birds, there is no other reason for these birds to be shot, particularly the red kites as scavengers, they generally don’t kill, just clean up road kill, and worms, and any other animal that has died for one reason or another, I’m not saying the red kites don’t ever kill, but in 10 years of studying them I have witnessed this only 2 times, both after a very bad spell of heavy snow, and hard frost so not much food available for them.
Yes buzzard kill, but they would only take what they need to survive, they are not like humans who take as much as they can all the time, most other birds of prey are not normally focused upon game birds , that said there is still no reason at all to kill birds of prey.
We need a service that will protect birds of prey, a service that can act above the mps, and other influential people, a service that is only accountable to the courts, it is only this kind of service that will be able to protect birds of prey, so far the current body responsible for the protection of birds, and wildlife are and have been swayed , and influential people, and wealthy people have been able to bend he results, and able to get punishment reduced to a slap on the wrist, and the criminals have been able to carry on regardless, in some cases return to exactly what they had been doing before they had been caught , and charged, without a gun licence, and a removal of the guns would actually stop them.
I have absolutely no sympathy for any landowners, or game industry employees for them loosing their jobs, or land because of crimes against birds of prey, and actions like this would in fact have an impact on the industry, with the threat of loosing absolutely everything hanging over them they would want to help protect birds of prey instead of protecting their game birds by killing birds of prey.
I have witnessed the after party of a shoot once, and that was once to many times.
Loud brash, boastful, and mostly drunk, the festivities went on for hours , drunk older men bragging about how many they killed, how they had nearly shot a beater, and how they blew the head off a bird, and the ones that don’t die immediately, very loud, rude, and didn’t care about the locals in the pub, and guests, it was as if they owned the pub, and we had to put up with it.
I would also like to point out the car park was full while they had been in the pub, and suddenly empty after they had gone.
The only other option is to kick the shooting industry into this century, and introduce them to modern technology, like digital skeet shooting, or digital clay pigeon, none of which use bullets, or lead shot, or sling shot.
They also have game bird shooting programs for these digital shooting arenas, and could be set up within the estate , or even in the main house, less noise, less pollution, less birds of prey being shot, and no more game bird killings,
I believe the shooting industry should now become extinct by its own actions, and lack of understanding regarding birds of prey.
These peo0le know the law better than most lawyers, they have to so they know exactly what to say to get off without charge.
Well said captured completely by JMS agreed totally with every word .
We went for run over Westerdale tonight for tea but a big cloud hung over us the moor it’s broken our hearts because we watched them .
I’ve just spent 2 hrs typing a letter to environmental secretary Theresa Coffey about death of the red kite in North Yorkshire and for all other beautiful critters it’s broken my heart all this ,and I will write to landowner as I know who he is and let him know my our thoughts.
The world needs to be better safer place .