A buzzard was found with shotgun injuries in a field off Birch Grove Road near Chelwood Gate in East Sussex on 23rd July 2023, according to an article on the SussexWorld website.
It was collected by the East Sussex Wildlife Rescue and Ambulance Service (WRAS) and an x-ray revealed two shotgun pellets, one causing a wing fracture and the other one lodged in the buzzard’s leg.
Vets were able to remove both pellets and after a month of expert care and rehabilitation, the buzzard has been released back into the wild.
It’s not clear to me whether the shooting of this buzzard was reported to the police. There’s an odd quote in the article from the founder and operations director of East Sussex WRAS, Trevor Weeks, who apparently said this:
“Shooting and injuring any wild animal or bird is generally an offence unless they are dispatched swiftly after injury. We regularly see wildlife coming into our centre after being shot and not killed out right – swans, badgers, foxes, gulls and many more”.
Whilst Trevor’s work, and that of his colleagues at East Sussex WRAS, is fantastic and greatly appreciated, his knowledge about wildlife crime appears to be sorely lacking. That he seems to be unaware that it’s an offence to shoot a buzzard (and any other protected species), whether it dies swiftly or not after being hit, is just staggering. I’m hoping he’s just been misquoted.
If he hasn’t, then hopefully the RSPB’s investigations team will be able to offer some training (similar to this) to help this valuable rescue team to recognise the signs of a wildlife crime and submit appropriate reports to the police.
Raptor Persecution UK 
According to Kent Police, shooting any raptor, although illegal, is not a recordable crime, ie. the Home Office does not collect data on how much/many are being committed. It seems some illegal activity is less illegal than others.
Kent Police are right. Wildlife & Countryside Link has been campaigning to make wildlife crimes recordable offences for quite a few years, so far without success. You can read their latest letter to the Home Secretary (sent July 2023) here:
Click to access Letter_to_Home_Secretary_notifiable_status_for_wildlife_crimes_03.07.23_2.pdf
Thank you for helping to publicise the shot buzzard which our charity dealt with. We are well aware that shooting and killing a buzzard or any other protected bird is a crime. My comment about the legality was NOT specifically about buzzards but about wild birds in general. It is not illegal to shoot some species of wild birds and the shooting of them only becomes an offence if they do not swiftly dispatch the suffering birds afterwards.
Indeed, the Animal Welfare Act 2006 also applies and while it is an offence to deliberately cause suffering, it’s also an offence to allow suffering to continue if there is no chance of relieving it by some means. All very difficult in animal rescue situations (my experience is primarily badger rescues) because you have to make a judgement that is not always clear-cut.
“It is not illegal to shoot some species of wild birds and the shooting of them only becomes an offence if they do not swiftly dispatch the suffering birds afterwards.”
There are many caveats to that hugely over-simplified statement.
[Ed: rest of comment deleted, Keith. I’m not putting up a link to that site]
From my understanding, under section 1(1) (a) WCA 1981 it is an offence to intentionally kill, injure or take any wild bird. This legislation protects all wild birds, however the legislation does allow Natural England to issue licences to kill certain species of birds in certain circumstances, and where certain conditions are met.
If the prescribed circumstances and conditions are not met, then it becomes an offence to kill or injure a wild bird of that species under the above legislation.
As has been pointed out previously on this blog, it is suspected many wild birds of the species included within General Licences are probably unlawfully killed, because the conditions within the GL have not been met.
I would suggest that on a public forum, and to avoid any confusion, it is probably more helpful to remind people that it is an offence to kill, injure or take any wild bird. Those who can justify the killing of certain species of wild bird under the terms of the GL should hopefully be very familiar with their obligations?
Hold the land owner responsible
Then they will take more care of our wildlife and not for profit but to save their estate from confiscation
Sickening as always
I agree sickening and totally unacceptable. Well researched John L interesting read . Again no excuse for any of it.