South Yorkshire Police have issued the following press release (dated 9 December 2024):
WITNESS APPEAL AFTER BIRD SHOT IN PEAK DISTRICT
We are appealing for information after a protected bird was reportedly shot in Bradfield, near Sheffield.
On 25 August, a dead raven was found in a field near Agden Side Road, Bradfield, in the Peak District.
The incident was reported to the RSPB who collected the bird. An x-ray of the bird showed that it had been shot.
It is believed the bird was shot between 24 August and 25 August.
Since the incident, officers have been following several lines of enquiry and we are now appealing for anybody who may have any information about the incident to contact us.
You can report information to us online via live chat or by calling 101, quoting incident number 662 of 9 September 2024.
You can access our online portal here: www.southyorkshire.police.uk/ro/report/ocr/af/how-to-report-a-crime/. Alternatively, you can provide information anonymously via independent charity Crimestoppers by calling 0800 555 111 or online at www.crimestoppers-uk.org.
ENDS
The Agden Side Road lies just beyond the boundary of two grouse moors (Strines and Broomhead) in the Peak District National Park.
This part of the Peak District National Park, dominated by land managed for driven grouse shooting, has a long and sordid history of raptor persecution incidents (e.g. see here, here, here, here, here etc).
Prosecutions are rare, largely due to the difficulty of identifying a named individual to link to a crime that has taken place in a relatively remote landscape with few witnesses.
This is certainly not helped by South Yorkshire Police, who rarely cover themselves in glory with timely investigations, although to be fair unless the shooting of this raven was witnessed and recorded, the police have little to go on.
Yes, the usual suspects will be in the frame but for a prosecution the police need evidence – they can’t just prosecute on the basis of recurrent past criminal behaviour in the area. Although waiting three and a half months to issue an appeal for witnesses, as they’ve done in this case, won’t help.
This scenario happens over and over again in areas managed for driven grouse shooting, even inside our National Parks, and has been happening for decades. Raptors are routinely shot, trapped and poisoned and the criminals get away with their crimes time after time after time.
This is one (of several) reasons why Wild Justice is currently running a petition calling for a ban on driven grouse shooting. The petition currently stands at 30,000 signatures but it needs 100,000 to trigger a parliamentary debate. If you’d like to sign it, please click HERE.
UPDATE 9 June 2025: Another Raven found shot dead next to grouse moor in notorious persecution hotspot in Peak District National Park (here)
Raptor Persecution UK 
[Ed: comment deleted as libellous]
25th of August! They’re ‘avin a larf!
Is this just a tick box exercise?
“Was there an appeal for information from the public?”
Yes, tick ,(but almost 4 months later).Still a tick on paper but a bit useless as far as actually getting any useful info.
Into the box of Wildlife crimes where all boxes have been ticked and all avenues explored but unfortunately no conclusion & no further action to be taken.
A big box!
Quite frankly we all know who does it. Poachers – “not on my patch” – well it was you! “Not on my patch”! Absolute liars.
Do we know if the RSPB informed South Yorkshire at the time the Raven was found or was confirmed illegally killed?
If this was the case, then appealing for witnesses 3 months after the event would suggest a woeful standard of investigation by the police, unless there were very compelling reasons not to do so.
The repeated failure of some Police Forces to meet what would appear to be basic minimum investigative standards in dealing with wildlife crime suggests that this matter needs urgently addressing by the College of Policing.
Perhaps, one of the issues with wildlife crimes could be the lack of a “Victims Code for policing” being applied to wildlife crimes, which requires the investigating officer to meet basic investigative standards as set out by the College of Policing, and any failure can be challenged by the victim, and even lead to disciplinary action taken against the officer.
Since wild animals or birds haven’t a voice of their own, and are reliant on humans to speak up for them, then it could be that applying this victims code to wildlife crimes, where the reporting person, or organisation takes on the rights of a victim as set out in the Code, could be a step in the right direction to improving the investigation of wildlife crimes nationally?
Hopefully someone in the College of Policing of NWCU will have the interest to look at this issue, and take the matter forward so that there are better national standards applied to the investigation of all wildlife crimes, and the standards of an investigation aren’t just a postcode lottery.
I always wonder as to the approach of the perpetrator in these fairly bog standard cases. Whether the person now regrets their perhaps borderline decision to pull the trigger on this one, given the outcome. I mean yes – that is one less Raven hanging around (the primary objective was ultimately achieved) but at the high cost these days of bringing a spotlight of public, RSPB & Police (well, a tiny bit from them) scrutiny on themselves.
So I wonder, was this scenario likely to be one of…
(a) A bungled attempt to “biff it” cleanly i.e. shoot it down textbook “stone dead” which they believed they were capable of doing, to then be disposed of in their preferred discreet way?
Or…
(b) Just not giving a f**k! i.e. letting off maybe all 5 (or 8) shots at an improbably distant target*. Taking an outside gamble that they might just kill it cleanly, but also being content to rattle it with a few pellets which will at least get rid of it and/ or might cause its demise later on.
*Ravens have a habit of drifting about over moors constantly “cronking” all day to each other at heights of 60-80yds (and much higher still), which pisses keepers off. 60 -80 is right on the grey area of whether a chap is a feeling a good enough shot to succeed with a barrage of heavy load, large shot cartridges or should really just pass on it til another day.
Of course, it maybe that neither of the above applies. One rank outsider -that the deniers will cling to, is that this could be the work of some non-gamekeeper dickhead – who just never could be arsed to learn to tell “crows” apart until he picks up a body. Which is alright then for the reputation of shooting more widely. Not! 😖
I wonder how the bird was found? I know this place well. It is well-watched by birders. I’m not one of the regulars who congregate there at times, but a passer by while out walking. I wonder if killing this particular bird is not about the bird being judged as vermin by whoever shot it, but more about sending a message to the birding community – that illegal persecution can still take place, even under the eyes of nature lovers ?
Just sad these birds are intelligent critters and deserve to be left alone unfortunately the world has plenty of dickheads and talk about shutting the stable door after the horse has bolted August FFS .