Author: RaptorPersecutionUK

Red Kite Found Poisoned Near Glenturret Estate, Tayside.

A third red kite has been poisoned with a banned pesticide in Perthshire, police have said.

The Dead Glenturret Red Kite

The dead bird was found on the edge of the Glenturret Estate near Crieff in August 2007.

Two other red kites have also been killed this year and tests have shown all the birds had eaten bait laced with carbofuran, which was outlawed in 2001.

Tayside Police have appealed for information about the deaths, which have been called “sickening” and “an absolute disgrace”.

The force’s wildlife and environment officer said those involved in the deaths should “hang their head in shame.” Alan Stewart said: “It is an absolute disgrace that a method commonly employed to kill birds of prey two centuries ago is still in use in 2007. Pesticides can easily kill people as well as wildlife yet these deadly baits are still left out in the open” He added that it would be “naive” to think the three dead red kites found in Tayside were the only poisoning incidents this year, as most baits and victims were never reported to the police.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/tayside_and_central/6958331.stm

Report in Strathearn Herald here

Red Kites were absent from Scotland’s skies for over a century due to human persecution. In 1989 a reintroduction programme was initiated by SNH and RSPB to bring this elegant bird of prey back. Although this programme has been successful it has been dogged by illegal poisoning. The red kite’s scavenging feeding habits make it especially vulnerable to this type of crime.

3 red kites poisoned nr Laurieston, Dumfries & Galloway

Another poisoned red kite

Three poisoned red kites were found near Laurieston, Dumfries & Galloway in April 2003. A post mortem revealed they had died from Carbofuran poisoning. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/2985915.stm

Later the same month, in the same area, two sparrowhawks were poisoned from Carbofuran that had been laid on pigeon baits.

Gamekeeper guilty of multiple bird deaths on Barns Estate, Peebleshire

A gamekeeper on the Barns Estate near Kirkton Manor, Peebleshire, was found guilty of killing 20 raptors by poisoning them. The keeper was charged with killing 25 birds originally, but several of the corpses were too badly decomposed to ascertain their cause of death. The gruesome discovery on the Barns Estate, where the accused had worked as a gamekeeper for 17 years, was made in March 2004 and included buzzards, a goshawk and a tawny owl. Investigators found 12 rabbit and pheasant carcasses that had been slit open and laced with blue poison granules.

The keeper’s defence lawyer: “He is clearly someone who has respect for the countryside. I think it would have been wrong to portray [him] as someone who has no respect for birds of prey”.

Fortunately, Sheriff James Farrell (Selkirk Sheriff Court) disagreed and the keeper was convicted and fined £5,500.

A spokesman for Wemyss & March Estates Ltd (who manages the Barns Estate) said he was completely unaware of his gamekeeper’s illegal activities.

Further info: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/3597952.stm

3 buzzards found poisoned on Invercauld Estate, Royal Deeside

Three buzzards found dead in woodland next to a grouse moor on Invercauld Estate, Deeside in March 2005 had been poisoned: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/4400327.stm

Invercauld Estate, located between Braemar and Crathie and next door to the Balmoral Estate, attracts a large number of paying guests who visit for grouse shooting, deer stalking and salmon fishing. According to their website, “The Estate is managed commercially but with great respect for the natural environment”. The Estate is run under the guidance of Captain Farquharson and other members of his family. Simon Blackett, the Estate Factor, is married to Geva Blackett, the former parliamentary officer for the Scottish Gamekeepers Association.

In the late 1990s,  a gamekeeper on the Estate was convicted of using an illegal spring trap and was fined £120. http://www.antisnaring.org.uk/news/traps/invercauld_estate_gamekeeper_fined?searched=invercauld&advsearch=oneword&highlight=ajaxSearch_highlight+ajaxSearch_highlight1

Poisoner at Leadhills Estate could not be identified

A gamekeeper on the Leadhills Estate in South Lanarkshire, was found not guilty of alleged raptor persecution crimes on the Leadhills grouse moor.

Leadhills Estate was raided in September 2006 after a tip-off about the continued use of illegal poisons to kill raptors. Rabbit baits and two dead buzzards were recovered from the estate, as well as knives and a gamebag that contained residues of the illegal poison, Carbofuran.

The case came to court in November 2008. Sheriff Stewart concluded, “No doubt illegal posioning was occuring on this estate in 2006 and that birds were poisoned”. However, from the evidence presented, she was unable to determine whether this particular gamekeeper was responsible, as his defence team claimed that the knives and gamebag were used communually, rather than exclusively by him. This defence is often used to successfully avoid individual prosecution.

4 buzzards poisoned at Eaglesfield, Dumfries & Galloway

 

An illegally poisoned dead buzzard

Four buzzards became the victims of illegal poisoning at Eaglesfield, Dumfries & Galloway, in March 2008. Police did not appeal for information until August 2008. The reason for the delayed publicity is unknown, but it is hard to expect anyone to come forward with information for the police 5 months after the crime was committed.

 

 

 

 

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/south_of_scotland/7537660.stm

red kite poisoned nr Castle Douglas, Dumfries & Galloway

The bodies of dead red kites that have been poisoned or shot are becoming more common in the Scottish landscape.

A dead red kite found in January 2008 on a farm near Laurieston, nine miles north of Castle Douglas in Dumfries & Galloway, had been poisoned with Carbofuran.

Re-introduced kites in this area, as well as other areas in Scotland, have been heavily targeted by poisoners who mistakenly think that the birds are a threat to their gamebirds. Red kites feed mainly on carrion (animals that have already died), worms and insects. They are highly susceptible to poisoning because they eat so much carrion, so it is easy for someone to stake out a poisoned bait in an area where kites forage for food.

No-one has been found responsible for the death of this red kite.

Further info: http://news.scotsman.com/latestnews/Poisoned-kite-sparks-fear-of.3705255.jp

Sea eagle feared killed on Glenogil Estate, Angus

This is the missing sea eagle, known as 'Bird N'

A young white-tailed sea eagle, less than six months old, is feared to have been killed on Glenogil Estate, Angus in the autumn of 2007, according to an article published in The Scotsman. Tayside police apparently received an anonymous tip-off that suggested the eagle had allegedly been shot on the estate. The information correlates with radio tracking data from the bird, who was regularly tracked in the area but whose signal disappeared around the time of the alleged incident, although the signal could have failed as a result of a mechanical malfunction.The young eagle has never been seen again. No arrests have been made.

The sea eagle was one of 15 young birds that were donated by Norway for the East Scotland re-introduction project. The young birds were released in Fife in August 2007, fitted with radio transmitters and wing tags for identification.

Glenogil Estate is owned by multi-millionaire John Dodd, who is reported to take grouse moor management advice from Mark Osborne. Glenogil has been at the centre of previous investigations of alleged wildlife crime offences, and John Dodd was fined £107,000 in 2008 for the suspected use of illegal poisons on raptors.  Dodd is appealing the decision.

For further information about the missing sea eagle: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/tayside_and_central/7124862.stm

http://news.scotsman.com/birdsofprey/Claim-and-denial-as-a.3589649.jp

Record penalty for poison offence at Glenogil Estate, Angus

In September 2008, John Dodd, the multi-millionaire owner of Glenogil shooting estate in Tayside, had his farming subsidy cut by £107,000 by the Scottish Executive because it was suspected that illegal substances found on the estate were being used to poison birds of prey. According to an article published in The Guardian, several raptors, including rare white-tailed sea eagles, have either been found dead on the estate or have mysteriously ‘disappeared’ on the estate, although to date, no successful prosecutions have occured. It is the largest ever civil penalty imposed under strict EU cross-compliance legislation, which makes protection of wildlife a condition of the subsidy. Dodd is reported to be contesting the decision.

According to The Guardian, the same illegal poisonous compound – which was withdrawn from sale as an insecticide in Ireland five years ago because of its toxicity – was also found on another grouse moor, the Leadhills estate, in southwest Scotland in the autumn of 2005. The estate, near Abingdon, was run at the time by Mark Osborne, one of the UK’s most successful managers of moor shoots. Osborne runs estates and advises shooting moor owners across Scotland and northern England, including Glenogil. Four of those estates – Leadhills, Glenogil, plus Glenlochy on Speyside and Snilesworth, north Yorkshire – have been raided in the past two years by police investigating claims of birds of prey persecution.

At the Snilesworth estate, near Northallerton, a head-keeper and two game keepers admitted illegally using traps baited with pigeons to catch protected birds of prey. The head-keeper was fined £1,250. A keeper at Leadhills was convicted of shooting a short-eared owl in 2004 and fined £500; Osborne refused to comment.

Further information: http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2008/sep/22/wildlife.conservation

Buzzard & sea eagle found poisoned nr Glenogil Estate, Angus

This is the young sea eagle 'White G' before he was illegally poisoned.
Here is ‘White G’ after his visit to a grouse moor.

A buzzard and a young white-tailed sea eagle known as ‘White G’ were found poisoned on 4 May 2008, along with 32 pieces of poisoned venison laid out on the nearby Glenogil Estate. The estate is owned by John Dodd, and Mark Osborne advises on grouse management issues.

The sea eagle had hatched on the Isle of Mull in 2007 and was fitted with wingtags, hence its name ‘White G’.

Further info: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/tayside_and_central/7720025.stm