Category: 2011 persecution incidents

Red kite and raven found poisoned in Dumfries & Galloway

According to the BBC website, police are investigating the poisoning of a red kite and a raven in the Lowther Hills, SW Scotland.

The article does not provide any information about when these dead birds were discovered, nor the details of the poison used to kill them. Dumfries & Galloway Constabulary are appealing for information but the incident does not appear to be highlighted on their force website.

In the most recent regional breakdown of reported persecution incidents (see RSPB’s Birdcrime 2010 report), Dumfries & Galloway had the highest number of reported incidents in south and west Scotland.

BBC news article here

Latest SASA figures show illegal raptor poisoning continues in Scotland

Well finally, on behalf of the Scottish Government, SASA (Science and Advice for Scottish Agriculture) has published the poisoning figures from the second quarter of 2011 (covering the period from April to June), and guess what? More raptors were illegally poisoned during this period. Seems a bit of a coincidence that these figures have been published four months late and on the very day that people were encouraged to make a Freedom of Information request to SASA to obtain the 2011 poisoning data. Nevertheless, the publication of these data is still welcome and provides us with cold hard facts about the continuing illegal poisoning of our native species.

The latest report shows that there were three confirmed ‘abuse’ incidents during this period, including:

April 2011: 1 x buzzard poisoned by Aldicarb & Carbofuran (Highland region)

May 2011: 1 x raven poisoned by Carbofuran (Dumfries & Galloway)

May 2011: 1 x red kite poisoned by Bendiocarb & Carbofuran (Highland)

All three incidents are reported to be the subject of on-going police investigations. How many of these were reported in the media at the time of the incidents? These latest figures can now be added to the figures from the first quarter (Jan – Mar 2011 – see here) to show that in the first half of this year the following  have been confirmed poisoned by illegal pesticides:

4 x buzzards; 1 x golden eagle; 2 x red kites; 2 x peregrines; 1 x raven.

And of course these are only the ones that have been discovered. And the figures do not include all the other incidents of non-poisoning persecution reported this year (e.g. shot goshawks here, shot peregrine here), nor the suspected poisoning incidents that were not included in the earlier SASA report (see here), nor the birds reported to have been poisoned since June (e.g. see here). It is clear that the widespread problem of illegal raptor persecution still exists, despite the (now apparently premature) comments from the game-shooting industry that this criminal behaviour has been eradicated. It clearly hasn’t been eradicated, but have the numbers dropped? Given the chronic delays in reporting these incidents in the media, we’ll have to wait for the next two SASA reports before that assessment can be made.

I wonder how long will we have to wait until the figures from the 3rd quarter (July – Sept) are released? If their publication is as late as this current one, we can expect to see them in four months time (February 2012). Perhaps that FoI request is still worth pursuing after all..

Latest SASA figures available for download here.

More on the Borders goshawk chicks reported shot

Yesterday we commented on an article being run on the BBC News website that was reporting on the shooting of goshawk chicks in the Borders (here). We raised some questions about the details in the article.

Thanks to the contributors who have written in to clarify things:

The BBC News article said: “The find was made in woods near Innerleithen by wildlife police officers earlier this month“.  Not true. The dead chicks were found by raptor workers in June and were reported to the police at that time.

The BBC News article said: “It appears that whoever attacked the nest climbed up and then blasted it with a shotgun making it impossible to identify how many chicks were inside“. Not true. The chicks were shot by someone standing beneath the nest tree. Two dead chicks were retrieved from the nest by raptor workers and delivered to the local police station to be sent for x-ray to confirm the cause of death.

The BBC News article said: “Anyone with information has been urged to contact Lothian & Borders Police immediately“. Information was given to the Lothian & Borders Police Wildlife Crime Coordinator in June.

The BBC News article said: “Police said they were treating the case very seriously“. Really?

Borders goshawk chicks reported shot – but something not right about this story

The BBC News website is running a story today that doesn’t quite sound right. The article says that earlier this month wildlife officers from Lothian & Borders Police discovered a nestful of dead goshawk chicks in the Tweed Valley that had been killed with a shotgun.

Goshawk chicks fledge in June/July, not September, so unless there has been a second clutch laid – which would be a rare event indeed, then these chicks were presumably shot in May/June and have remained unnoticed until September. That’s possible but seems fairly unlikely – the Borders goshawk population has been closely monitored for the last few decades. Hmmmm…

Anyone with information is urged to contact Lothian & Borders Police.

Article on BBC News here

Poisoned raptors ‘flung from vehicle’

Police are investigating after four birds of prey were poisoned and dumped in a lay-by in Midlothian, according to a report in today’s Scotsman.

Two buzzards and two sparrowhawks were found by a dog walker next to the A68, south of Pathhead, a few miles from Edinburgh, on Monday 5th September. They are believed to have been killed by ‘industrial grade chemicals’ and thrown from a passing vehicle. The bodies are currently undergoing toxicology tests to determine which poison was used. The police are asking anyone with information to contact them.

Well done to Lothian & Borders police for publicising this incident in a timely manner.

Scotsman article published here and reproduced here:

Scottish Police are investigating after four birds of prey were poisoned and dumped in a remote lay-by in Midlothian. Two buzzards and two sparrow hawks were found by a dog walker next to the A68, south of Pathhead, after being killed with what is thought to have been industrial grade chemicals.

Police believe the birds may have been thrown from a moving vehicle as it drove past the stop point and appealed for any witnesses to help.

The incident comes just weeks after the Evening News told how officers were still hunting criminals who killed two peregrine falcons and took the head of one as a trophy.

Pc Hannah Medley, Midlothian wildlife and environmental crime officer, said the birds in the latest incident were discovered on Monday, September 5.

“It appears to be two sparrowhawks and two buzzards which have been dumped, possibly thrown from a car, in a lay-by on the A68. We’re appealing for any witnesses who may have seen anything in the area on that day. We’re still waiting to find out what the poison is, but these poisoned baits are often fairly strong and would be well capable of killing a family pet.”

She added: “It’s very unusual for this to happen in Midlothian, and we haven’t really had anything like this recently. I’d say to anyone who knows what has happened to contact police. It could possibly be a car speeding off or anything suspicious in the area that didn’t look quite right.”

The incident also came as the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds Scotland prepares to publish its annual report into illegal killings of birds in Scotland last year.

The report includes details of golden eagles and red kites, and a raid on an estate in Sutherland in which 10 kilos of lethal poison were found.

Ian Thomson, investigating officer at RSPB Scotland, said: “This is an absolutely heartless crime and the fact that people are still committing this kind of acts in 2011 is disheartening. This case is very unusual, why someone would want to dump these in a lay-by isn’t clear. One of the key things coming from our annual 2010 report into illegal killings of birds is the amount of illegal poisoning that is going on. We’ve seen four golden eagles, seven red kites and these are just the ones found”.

UPDATE June 2012: SASA toxicology results have confirmed all four birds were poisoned with Carbofuran.

 

National UK poisoning statistics show steady rise

The UK’s national statistics documenting animals poisoned by pesticides have been released by the Wildlife Incident Investigation Scheme. The scheme covers Scotland, England, Wales and Northern Ireland. The spreadsheet provides poisoning data from 2008 up to the end of the first quarter of 2011 (Jan – March). The figures clearly show an increase in the number of deliberate poisoning incidents recorded (classed as ‘abuse’ in the spreadsheet) nationwide:

2008 – total confirmed abuse incidents = 66.

2009 – total confirmed abuse incidents = 71.

2010 – total confirmed abuse incidents = 80.

Whether this increase is due to a rise in illegal poisoning activities or a better detection rate is unclear. What is clear is that illegal poisoning continues across our landscapes. The figures for the first quarter of 2011 show 17 confirmed abuse incidents.

It’s notable that many of the individually-confirmed abuse incidents have not appeared in the press. It’s also worth reading how many cases are now considered ‘closed’ because the source of the poison hasn’t been established. It would have been interesting to have seen the different locations involved (eg how many were discovered on land managed for game-rearing and shooting?) but once again this level of detail has not been provided.

Spreadsheet available here

Police raid sporting estate in Scottish Highlands

Police have today raided a sporting estate near Inverness to investigate allegations of wildlife crime.  Although we know the name of this estate, we are acting upon advice not to release it at this time.

Twenty five police officers were joined on the raid by representatives of the RSPB, SSPCA and the Scottish Government Rural Payments and Inspections Directorate.

Northern Constabulary press release here

BBC news story here

More news on this in due course.

Poison hunt called off and incidents ‘missing’ from official SASA figures

In April, we reported on a series of suspected poisoning incidents at Fullerton Woods, Troon, Ayrshire. Poisoned rabbit baits were reported to have been found in February and March 2011 and were believed to be implicated in the deaths of a fox, two dogs and possibly two buzzards (story here).

In an article published in the Troon Times on 31 May 2011, wildlife police were reported to be “no longer hunting poachers after dead animal bodies were found in Troon Woods“. The on-line article does not provide any more information about this decision.

Interesting then that in the SASA animal poisoning report released earlier this week, the dead animals from Fullarton Woods were not included in the list of suspected poisoning incidents in Scotland between January and March 2011. Does this mean the dead animals were not submitted for poison analysis? Or does this mean that they were submitted somewhere other than SASA? Or has SASA deliberately excluded them from their interim report?

There’s another missing incident in the SASA report. Remember the allegedly poisoned buzzard discovered on Mountquhanie Estate, Fife, in January 2011? The news report at the time stated that the dead bird had been sent for post-mortem to establish the cause of death. Where is this bird in the SASA report? Was it sent to SASA for post-mortem, or somewhere else? If it was sent somewhere else then surely the SASA figures cannot be used by the government as the official reporting mechanism for poisoning incidents, because they are excluding a number of suspected incidents?

Latest SASA figures reveal widespread poisoning incidents in early 2011

The latest figures detailing illegal animal poisoning incidents in the first quarter of 2011 have just been released by Science and Advice for Scottish Agriculture (SASA) on behalf of the Scottish Government.

The figures cover the period January to March 2011, and show that criminal raptor poisoning incidents were detected in each of the three months. They include 3 buzzards, 1 golden eagle, 1 red kite and 2 peregrines.  Poisoning incidents were widespread, taking place across Scotland, including in the Borders, Strathclyde, Tayside, Grampian and the Highlands. The illegal poisons used included Carbofuran, Chloralose and Strychnine. So much for the game-shooting industry’s self-regulation. I guess 2011 will not be the year they ‘stamp out’ illegal raptor persecution.

Not for the first time, two of the five recorded incidents were apparently unpublicised in the media: 1 x buzzard poisoned with Carbofuran in the Borders in January 2011, and 1 x red kite poisoned with Chloralose in the Highland region in February 2011.

SASA poisoning figures for period Jan – Mar 2011 available here

Satellite-tagged harrier lost, presumed killed in Aberdeenshire

A young hen harrier that had been satellite-tracked since 2010 has gone missing near Glen Dye in Aberdeenshire. Roy Dennis, the man behind the satellite-tagging project, concludes that she has been killed. He has made a report to the Grampian Wildlife Crime Officer.

The harrier, named ‘Tanar’ after her birthplace on the Glen Tanar Estate in June 2010, was one of two harriers tagged from the same nest. Her brother, ‘Glen’ is also dead according to Roy. The loss of both youngsters in their first year will come as no surprise to those who read the 2011 government report on hen harrier persecution in Scotland. The report (see here and here) confirmed what many raptor fieldworkers have known for years – that hen harrier persecution is rife, particularly on land managed for grouse shooting, and in Scotland over 2,000 harriers are ‘missing’ from apparently suitable habitat.