Press release from RSPB (5th November 2024):
RED KITE FOUND POISONED IN HIGHLANDS
- The bird had consumed a banned pesticide which has a history of being used to kill birds of prey.
- Red Kites are fully protected by law, and to kill or harm one could result in jail.
- The illegal poisoning of birds of prey is a national issue and poses a potentially deadly danger to people, pets and wildlife.
A protected Red Kite endured an ‘agonising death’ after being killed by a banned pesticide, one quarter of a teaspoon of which is enough to kill a human.
RSPB Scotland received a call in April 2024 from a dog walker who had found a red kite dead on the ground near to a popular woodland walking trail, adjacent to hill farm land at Spinningdale, near Dornoch in East Sutherland.
RSPB Investigators notified Police Scotland, collected the bird and sent it for a post-mortem examination and toxicology analysis. The results were consistent with Carbofuran poisoning being the cause of the bird’s death, a pesticide banned for over 20 years.
Police Scotland and partner agencies conducted a search of the area but found no evidence that enabled them to identify a suspect.
It is a crime to kill or attempt to kill a bird of prey, and anyone caught doing so faces a fine or even jail.
The latest Birdcrime report, released last month found there were 159 poisoning incidents involving birds of prey between 2009-2024 in Scotland. In recent years, Carbofuran has become the pesticide most frequently associated with bird of prey persecution.
And of all UK counties, the Highland area had the second highest number of confirmed incidents of raptor persecution during the same 15-year period.
Ian Thomson, RSPB Investigations Manager, said:
“We are very grateful to the person that found this dead kite for reporting it to us. It is appalling that individuals are still using this poison, decades after it was banned, and this bird will have suffered an agonising and horrific death.
Carbofuran is a highly toxic substance and is one of several banned pesticides still used by criminals targeting birds of prey or other protected wildlife. Its possession or use is illegal and placing it out in the open poses a potentially deadly and indiscriminate risk not only to wildlife but to people and pets.
We ask anyone using the area to be vigilant if they find anything suspicious, don’t touch, but do take photos and report to Police Scotland immediately on 101.”
If you notice a dead or injured bird of prey in suspicious circumstances, call Police Scotland on 101 and fill in the RSPB’s online reporting form here.
If you have information about anyone killing birds of prey which you wish to report anonymously, call the RSPB’s confidential Raptor Crime Hotline on 0300 999 0101.
ENDS
Raptor Persecution UK 
How on earth are these folk still getting hold of carbofuran?
Who is supplying it to UK addresses?
it’s gamekeepers and the like who have never disposed of their old supplies, mostly I infer.
That’s got to be axidental, would a red kite take anything live?
why would something have to be alive to be contaminated with poison???
How does a substance which has been banned for 20 odd years find its way into anything a red kite is likely to eat?
“Axidental”? Pull the other one…This is a completely deliberate act.
Oh, and kites will take live prey, just not that often.
It is alarming to find yet another raptor poisoned by a deadly substance. Given the repeated use of carbofuran to poison raptors how is it that there has never been an investigation into how this is being sourced and by whom? I cannot go out and buy cyanide so how are people able to buy such deadly poisons without being able to be traced?
There’s actually been a lot of work going on in the background over many years.
The problem with Carbofuran is we know that there are illegal stockpiles of the stuff, e.g. the discovery of 10.5kg of Carbofuran found stashed away in an outbuilding on Skibo Estate back in 2010 (after 3 golden eagles were found poisoned on the estate).
Given that Carbofuran is SO highly toxic, and only a small amount is required to lethally poison a bird (or human), then it was estimated that this stash alone was probably sufficient to kill every raptor in Scotland many times over.
The red kites have disappeared from the Rosehall area, too, just a few miles inland from Dornoch.
They need to make ownership of Carbofuran and every other banned poison illegal, with hefty penalties for ownership. Then they need to give a short amnesty for people to hand in any residual stocks, and set up a task force with police powers to go through every single farm, croft, estate, gamekeeper’s residence, pigeon fancier’s property to seek out anyone still holding onto stocks and bring them to court.
It’s been an offence to be in possession of Carbofuran in Scotland since 2005 [Possession of Pesticides (Scotland) Order] and there are hefty penalties available (although rarely used). The Scottish Government has also run at least two amnesties.
The police can’t go raking through people’s properties to look for the stuff unless they have reasonable cause to believe an offence has been committed. And quite rightly in my view (civil liberties etc).
The problem with that is where do you start? The only case I have been involved in concerned an individual who buried the stuff under a stone in their garden. It wasn’t found because they got wind of the investigation (I won’t say how) and removed it before the premises were ‘searched’.
The words banned and illegal like everyone has said who manufactures it who sells it who are these people breaking the law how does it get into the whole system surely it can be stopped XXXXX XXXXX XXXXX XXXXX XXXXX XXXXX XXXXX XXXXX XXXXX XXXXXX XXXXX XXXXX.
I cannot buy a horses wormer without scrutiny and form filling and only administered by someone who is trained to administer it ,it beggars belief everything is so unbelievable.
They get the poison from Ireland.
certain members of the Royal family are travelling round the world, stressing that wildlife needs our help, but they don’t speak out about Raptor Persecution, disgusting!