A member of the public witnessed the shooting of a red kite on the Lochindorb Estate yesterday morning. It was recovered by the Scottish SPCA but unfortunately its injuries were so severe it had to be euthanised.
Police Scotland has issued the following appeal for information:
APPEAL FOLLOWING BIRD OF PREY SHOT NEAR GRANTOWN-ON-SPEY
Officers are appealing for information after a protected bird of prey was shot near Grantown-on-Spey.
We received a report of a red kite being shot around 11.15am on Monday, 27 March, on the Lochindorb Estate, Grantown-on-Spey.
It was recovered with the assistance of the Scottish Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SSPCA) but had to be euthanized as its injuries were not recoverable.
Community Police Inspector Craig Johnstone said: “The red kite is a protected species and under the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 it is illegal to kill them.
“I am asking anyone in the local community who may be able to help with our enquiries to come forward. If you were walking in the area on Monday then please let us know if you saw anything.
“In particular, if you saw quad bikes in the area or off road vehicles, then get in touch as even the smallest bit of information could assist with our investigation.”
Anyone with information is asked to contact Police Scotland on 101, quoting incident number 1760 of Monday, 27 March, or make a call anonymously to the charity Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.
ENDS
I applaud this very fast public appeal for information by Police Scotland. It’s in stark contrast to their 19-month silence about a poisoned red kite that was found in the same region in 2021 (see here) and for which they received much deserved criticism.
All credit to them for responding so quickly this time and for naming the estate on which the shooting was witnessed. Bravo.
UPDATE 29th March 2023: Game-shooting industry’s response to news that red kite was shot on grouse moor (Lochindorb Estate) here
UPDATE 1st April 2023: Arrest made in relation to red kite shooting on Lochindorb Estate grouse moor (here)
Suffolk Police have arrested a man in connection with their ongoing investigation into the illegal shooting of five juvenile goshawks that were found dumped in a car park next to Kings Forest near Thetford in January.
The 70-year-old man from the Brandon area was arrested yesterday on suspicion of killing/taking a schedule 1 wild bird, possession of a schedule one wild bird and breach of firearms licence conditions.
He was taken to Bury St Edmunds Police Investigation Centre for questioning and subsequently released under investigation, pending further enquiries.
Let’s hope the police investigation leads to someone being charged and convicted. There’s currently a £16K+ reward available to anyone who provides information leading to a successful prosecution. The reward fund comprises £5K from the RSPB (here), £5K from Wild Justice (here), and £6K+ from a crowd funder set up by Rare Bird Alert (here).
Here’s a press statement from Suffolk Police, published yesterday afternoon:
Man released in connection with bird shooting – Wordwell
A man arrested in connection with the shooting of five birds in Wordwell near to Bury St Edmunds has been released under investigation.
The male in his 70s and from the Brandon area was arrested yesterday (Monday 27 March) on suspicion of killing/taking a schedule 1 wild bird, possession of a schedule one wild bird and breach of firearms licence conditions.
The five birds of prey were found on Monday 16 January, having been left in a parking area just off from the B1106 in Kings Forest, near Wordwell. X-rays were undertaken which showed all five birds had suffered injuries from multiple pieces of shot.
Officers from Suffolk’s Rural and Wildlife Policing Team were assisted by Norfolk police colleagues, as well as officers from the RSPB Investigations team and the National Wildlife Crime Unit.
The man was taken to Bury St Edmunds Police Investigation Centre for questioning and subsequently released under investigation, pending further enquiries.
All birds of prey are protected by law, and to kill or injure one could result in jail and/or an unlimited fine.
ENDS
UPDATE 7th June 2023: Man charged in relation to 5 shot goshawks found dumped in a forest carpark in January (here)
A shot red kite has been found injured after ‘falling from the sky’ at the Royal Observatory in Greenwich Park, south east London.
It is currently being treated at the South Essex Wildlife Hospital where x-rays revealed multiple shotgun pellets lodged in its body. It’s not clear where or when this kite was shot.
Staff at the wildlife hospital posted the following details and photos on social media yesterday evening:
UPDATE 13th February 2023, 10am: The person who found this injured kite has provided some more background to the circumstances:
Press statement from Kent Police (6 February 2023):
BUZZARD KILLED IN A VILLAGE NEAR MAIDSTONE
Kent Police’s Rural Task Force is investigating the shooting of a bird of prey in Otham, Maidstone.
At around 3.30pm on Friday 3 February 2023, a member of the public reported a buzzard had fallen into a garden in Otham Street after being shot.
It was taken to a veterinary surgery for treatment but had to be euthanised due to the extent of its injuries.
Buzzards are protected under the Wildlife and Countryside Act and officers are urging witnesses or anyone with information to contact them.
Police Sergeant Darren Walshaw said:
“We are investigating this incident with colleagues from the RSPCA and suspect the bird was shot. We understand there were several people in the area at the time including walkers, residents in their gardens, and two people who were on the roof of a nearby property. We are urging anyone that can assist our enquiries to contact us“.
Witnesses should call 01622 604100, quoting Rural Task Force reference 16-23. You can also call Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555111 or complete the online form on the website.
It was found on 11th January 2023 near to Hardy’s Green and Heckford Bridge and was picked up by a member of the public.
The buzzard had suffered a broken wing and internal injuries and was being cared for by professionals at Colchester Owl Rescue. It succumbed to its injuries over the weekend.
Thanks to Essex Police’s Rural, Wildlife & Heritage Crime team for the update.
Essex Police’s investigation into the shooting of this buzzard is ongoing. If anyone has any information please contact Essex Police on Tel: 101, quoting incident reference # 42/13298/23.
The shot buzzard. Photo: Essex Police Wildlife Team & Colchester Owl Rescue
X-ray showing at least 3 shotgun pellets (highlighted by RPUK). Photo: Essex Police Wildlife Team & Colchester Owl Rescue
Last week I blogged about how a major shooting industry organisation, BASC, had attacked Suffolk Police for what BASC perceived to be an ‘offensive’ police appeal for information about the shooting of five young goshawks found dead at the edge of woodland near Thetford (here).
BASC complained that the police’s appeal was “disparaging to the shooting community” simply because the police had asked the shooting community for help to identify the shot gun-wielding criminal(!). Astonishingly, BASC’s complaint resulted in the police’s tweet/appeal for information being deleted.
Later, Suffolk Police released a joint press release with the RSPB, which seemed to enrage BASC even further. Bizarrely, BASC wrote on a blog:
“Can we assume the RSPB has more information on the matter than BASC as they were very quick yesterday to offer a £5,000 reward for information leading to conviction; shortly followed by a similar pledge from Wild Justice? It would be useful to know whether RSPB are complainants, victims, witnesses or have any other relationship with Suffolk Constabulary“.
I would argue that this is a cack-handed but sinister attempt by BASC to try and influence the narrative on raptor persecution crimes. If the police are too scared to publicise a raptor persecution incident or appeal for information about it, because they’re scared of a backlash from the industry who are, let’s not forget, responsible for 73% of convictions for raptor persecution crimes, then it’s job done for the shooting industry. No reports = no publicity = no bad press = no public pressure on politicians to tackle these relentless, systemic crimes.
And it’s not just BASC that appears to be at it. The National Gamekeepers Organisation (NGO) has recently written on its website its dissatisfaction with Lincolnshire Police and the RSPB about the reporting of raptor persecution offences in that county. It’s mostly about a recent incident where the remains of three barn owls, one tawny owl and one red kite were found dumped in a ditch (here), and the NGO incorrectly accuses RSPB Investigations Officer Howard Jones of ‘insinuating that a gamekeeper might be to blame for the Lincolnshire incident‘ in a BBC news article.
Actually, Howard Jones did no such thing, he was talking about raptor persecution crimes in general and he was simply stating facts – the “vast majority” of raptor persecution cases being dealt with by the courts involve gamekeepers. That is a factually accurate statement from Howard, however unpalatable/embarrassing that may be to the NGO. Neither the RSPB or Lincolnshire Police laid any blame on anybody after the discovery of those bird of prey remains in Lincolnshire – they simply said it was an ‘unusual’ case and were appealing for information (here).
The ridiculous NGO, though, has written on its website:
“The NGO are in contact with DC Flint of Lincolnshire Police and are hoping to meet with him in the near future to discuss both this case and to highlight our concerns about the reporting surrounding this case“.
Meanwhile, the NGO has failed (refused?) to publicise the recent conviction of Dorset gamekeeper Paul Allen, who pleaded guilty to multiple wildlife, poisons and firearms offences after the discovery of six shot buzzards, the burnt remains of three more buzzards, and three different types of banned poisons on his pheasant shoot and a loaded shotgun found propped up behind his kitchen door with rounds of unlicensed ammunition in an out-building.
The NGO has also remained silent about the discovery of the five shot goshawks found dumped in Suffolk last week.
Like BASC, you’ll know that the NGO is a member of the Raptor Persecution Priority Delivery Group (RPPDG), a so-called partnership (it’s a sham) whose main objective is to help eradicate raptor persecution by highlighting these crimes and publicly condemning the criminals involved.
Long-term blog readers will know this attempted manipulation of the narrative by the game-shooting industry is nothing new and has been going on for years, mostly behind the scenes and only uncovered via Freedom of Information requests (e.g. see here and here).
I’ve just been sent yet another example of it, this time in the Yorkshire Dales National Park. More on that shortly…
The reward for information leading to the conviction of whoever shot five goshawks and dumped them in Suffolk last week (see here) has now passed £14,000.
The RSPB has provided £5,000, Wild Justice has provided £5,000, and Rare Bird Alert’s crowdfunder appeal has so far accrued over £4,000.
I haven’t seen any effort by any of the game-shooting organisations to contribute to the reward; most of them haven’t even drawn to their members’ attention the police appeal for information, let alone told them about the reward (apart from BASC, whose response was to wail, loudly, about how offensive it was for the police to ask the shooting community for help to identify a criminal with a shotgun, here)!
There may be coverage of BASC’s histrionics in The Guardian tomorrow.
If you’d like to contribute to the reward, please visit the crowdfunder here.
If you have any information about this appalling crime, please call Suffolk Police on 101 and quote crime reference 37/3027/23. Alternatively, you can provide anonymous information via the RSPB’s dedicated Raptor Crime Hotline on 0300 999 0101.
UPDATE 7th June 2023: Man charged in relation to five shot goshawks found dumped in a forest car park in January (here)
A buzzard has been found shot in Colchester, Essex. It is still alive and is undergoing treatment for its injuries.
It was found on 11th January 2023 near to Hardy’s Green and Heckford Bridge. Essex Police’s Rural, Wildlife & Heritage Crime Team has put out an appeal for information on Twitter:
The shot buzzard. Photo: Essex Police Wildlife Team & Colchester Owl Rescue
X-ray showing at least 3 shotgun pellets (highlighted by RPUK). Photo: Essex Police Wildlife Team & Colchester Owl Rescue
This isn’t the first raptor persecution crime in Essex and certainly won’t be the last. Previous crimes against birds of prey in this county in recent years include the shooting of red kites (e.g. here and here), the shooting of a hobby (here) and the shooting of buzzards (e.g. here, here and here).
If anyone has any information about this latest shot buzzard, please contact Essex Police on Tel: 101, quoting incident reference # 42/13298/23.
UPDATE 31st January 2023: Shot buzzard in Essex succumbs to its injuries (here)
At the beginning of this week, Suffolk Police put out an appeal on Twitter asking the shooting community to help identify the person who shot dead five young goshawks, which had been dumped at the edge of the King’s Forest near Thetford on Monday (see here).
The following day, Suffolk Police’s tweet was deleted without explanation. It soon became clear why – BASC, a prominent shooting organisation, had demanded it be removed because apparently it was offensive to ask the shooting community to help identify someone who had committed a crime with a shotgun! In a misjudged PR move, BASC even bragged about getting the police tweet removed:
I don’t think it’s disparaging in any way to ask the shooting community for help to solve a wildlife crime committed by someone with a shotgun. And let’s be honest, given the long history of goshawk persecution in the UK by members of the game-shooting industry, it’s perfectly logical to suspect that a member of that industry might be the perpetrator.
At this stage, Suffolk Police, quite rightly, hasn’t drawn any conclusions other than all five goshawks contained shotgun pellets (as revealed by x-ray).
My own view, for what it’s worth at this early stage of the investigation, is that the x-ray provided by the police shows that at least one of the dead goshawks had an enlarged crop, indicating that it had eaten recently. It’s not beyond the realms of possibly, or indeed probability, that these young goshawks had been enticed into a trap, over a period of time, by a decoy bird and then shot by whoever was operating the trap.
We know that goshawks are easily enticed into such traps (e.g. see here, here, here and here). We also know that many gamekeepers generally despise goshawks, due to their perceived threat to gamebirds; a view not helped by idiotic and inaccurate commentary about the species by senior members of the gamekeeping community including Alex Hogg, the Chairman of the Scottish Gamekeepers Association, who once wrote, “I strongly believe the goshawk never was indigenous to the United Kingdom and there is absolutely no hard evidence to suggest otherwise” (see here). Goshawk persecution is so rife in the UK, even inside some of our National Parks (e.g. see here and here) that the species has been identified as a ‘national wildlife crime priority’ by the National Wildlife Crime Unit.
Why were the dead goshawks dumped in a car park next to a public wood? Only the person who dumped them there can answer that, but again, it’s not the first time that illegally-killed goshawks have been placed to await discovery, as some kind of two-fingered salute by the killer(s).
For example, here is what happened to three young fledged goshawks from a nest in the Peak District National Park . The image below is an excerpt from the Peak Nest Watch 2010 end of season report, which can be downloaded here: peak_nestwatch_2010
Were the five shot goshawks found in Suffolk this week all from the same brood? DNA analysis can answer that. When were they shot and had the carcasses been frozen prior to being dumped? Again, forensic analyses will help. Until then, all we know is that a wildlife crime has been committed and Suffolk Police are to be congratulated for putting out an appeal for information within 24 hours of the shot birds being discovered.
I’ve seen other members of the shooting community make some ridiculous claims about this case over the last few days. One suggests that shotgun pellets ‘can easily be introduced into a carcass’, inferring that these birds weren’t shot at all but are the result of some kind of ‘set up’. He’s bonkers if he thinks anyone will believe that. Another former Head Gamekeeper, who routinely brags on social media about his supposed superior expertise on natural history, concluded that these were buzzards, not goshawks (he’s wrong, as usual) but even if he was right, it would still be a wildlife crime to shoot them. Bizarrely, the BASC Scotland twitter account ‘liked’ this post (thanks to blog reader Dr Rob Thomas @RobThomas14 for pointing this out):
Not content with forcing Suffolk Police to remove its original appeal for information on this case, BASC has now published an astonishing article on its website in an attempt to justify its action and also seems to be very cross about the £10,000 reward offered by the RSPB and Wild Justice. You can read the BASC article here.
[UPDATE: It appears that BASC’s blog is no longer available on its website. Fortunately it was screen-grabbed before it vanished, see below]
In my opinion, it’s staggering that BASC can so easily influence the narrative about raptor persecution crimes as it has done here, and it’s not the first time. I’ll be blogging shortly about another example that has recently come to light.
It’s also a little bit strange that BASC should feel offended about being asked to help find the criminal who shot these goshawks. BASC, you’ll recall, is a member of the Raptor Persecution Priority Delivery Group (RPPDG), the police-led ‘partnership’ designed to help tackle illegal bird of prey persecution in England & Wales. If BASC is so offended about the shooting industry being linked to raptor persecution, why on earth is it a member of the RPPDG?
Meanwhile, the crowdfunder to increase the £10,000 reward for information, launched by those decent people at Rare Bird Alert, is doing well. If you’d like to contribute, the crowdfunder page can be found here.
If you have any information about this appalling crime, please call Suffolk Police on 101 and quote crime reference 37/3027/23. Alternatively, to get in touch anonymously, call the RSPB’s dedicated Raptor Crime Hotline on 0300 999 0101.
UPDATE 7th June 2023: Man charged in relation to five shot goshawks found dumped in a forest car park in January (here)
UPDATE 29th June 2023: Gamekeeper Francis Addison receives suspended jail sentence in relation to five shot goshawks (here)
Further to the news that the RSPB and Wild Justice have put up a £10,000 reward for information leading to the conviction of the person who shot five young goshawks and dumped their bodies at the edge of The King’s Wood in Suffolk on Monday (see here), the bird news service Rare Bird Alert has launched a crowdfunder to increase the reward.
Here’s the wording of the crowdfunder, that went live earlier this morning:
On Monday 16th January 2023 officers from Suffolk Constabulary discovered the bodies of five dead Goshawks in Kings Forest, Suffolk.
Police have revealed that x-ray examination has shown all five birds had been shot. Further investigations are on-going.
A reward of £10,000 has been offered by the RSPB and Wild Justice for information leading to a conviction in connection with the birds.
Rare Bird Alert is setting up this appeal to increase that reward. If the reward is not paid out after a determinate period of time then it will be donated to the RSPB Investigations team for their continuing fight against raptor persecution.
We will not be silenced by those who kill birds of prey.
ENDS
Rare Bird Alert launched a similar fundraising appeal in 2015 after a rare Red-footed falcon was shot in Cambridgeshire (here), and that appeal raised over £2,700. It is hoped that this latest fundraiser provides the birding community with a constructive outlet for its anger at yet another appalling case of raptor persecution.
If you’d like to contribute, the crowdfunder page can be found here.
Raptor Persecution UK 