Category: 2023 persecution incidents

Wild Justice partners with RSPB to offer £10,000 reward for info on five shot goshawks

Further to the news that Suffolk Police have found five shot goshawks, dumped at the edge of the King’s Forest near Thetford (see here), conservation campaign group Wild Justice has partnered with the RSPB to increase the reward for information from £5,000 (here) to £10,000 (see here).

The five shot goshawks found by Suffolk Police on Monday 16th January 2023

In a statement, Wild Justice said:

“We are sick to the back teeth of the relentless illegal persecution of birds of prey in the UK, which is mostly associated with land managed for gamebird shooting, be that red grouse, pheasants or partridges. Indeed, it was our strength of feeling about raptor persecution, and our frustration at the failure of the Westminster and the devolved governments to tackle it effectively, that led to us founding Wild Justice in 2018. In partnership with the RSPB, we hope this substantial reward will encourage someone to come forward with information about whoever was responsible for this heinous crime, and that that information leads to a successful conviction“.

If you have any information, 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.

The BBC News website has picked up the news of this increased reward here and the Suffolk Live website has written about it here.

UPDATE 19th January 2023: Crowdfunder launched to increase reward for information on five shot goshawks found in Suffolk (here)

Five goshawks shot & dumped in King’s Forest, Suffolk: Police appeal for information

Yesterday evening, Suffolk Police’s Rural, Wildlife & Heritage Unit posted an appeal on Twitter asking for information about the discovery of five young goshawks, reportedly shot and dumped in the King’s Forest, Suffolk.

The corpses were found on Monday (16th Jan 2023) at the Brandon end of the large car park area off the B1106, North Stow. Police say all five birds were x-rayed and all were found to contain shotgun pellets.

Some idiots from the shooting industry have been complaining on Twitter about what they perceive to be an ‘anti-shooting’ tweet from the police – anything to distract attention away from this disturbing crime, I guess.

One genius is even convinced that the x-ray image provided by the police is actually of a shot parrot and not one of the shot goshawks, despite it being explained to him in very simple terms by a qualified vet (@ThatVetSean) that the word ‘parrot’ appears in the corner of the x-ray image “because it’s a digital x-ray machine & veterinary software with handy preloaded settings enabling the operator to get a quality image in a single go. They’ll have chosen parrot as it’s comparable in size/anatomy, there isn’t a Goshawk setting“.

Well done to Suffolk Police’s Rural, Wildlife & Heritage Unit for issuing an impressively quick appeal for information.

If anyone has any information about who shot and dumped these goshawks, please contact Suffolk Police.

UPDATE 16.o5hrs: Five shot goshawks in Suffolk: RSPB offers £5,ooo reward for information (here)

UPDATE 5pm: Wild Justice also offers £5,000 reward (here)

UPDATE 19th January 2023: Crowdfunder launched to increase reward for information on five shot goshawks found in Suffolk (here)

UPDATE 20th January 2023: Shooting industry ‘offended’ about being asked to help identify the person who shot five goshawks (here)

UPDATE 28th March 2023: Suffolk Police arrest a man in connection with five shot goshawks found in Kings Forest in January (here)

UPDATE 7th June 2023: Man charged in relation to 5 shot goshawks found dumped in a forest carpark in January (here)

Barn owl found dead in a crow cage trap on an Angus Glens grouse moor

Over the weekend I was advised that a barn owl had reportedly been found dead inside a crow cage trap situated on a grouse moor in the notorious raptor persecution hotspot, the Angus Glens.

The discovery was apparently made during the first week of January 2023.

I understand the trap was tagged with the operator’s registration number (now a legal requirement in Scotland) and that the trap had not been disabled (i.e. the door hadn’t been removed/padlocked open) and so as far as the law is concerned, the trap was considered to be in-use, which means the trap operator has a legal obligation to check the trap at least once every 24 hours and release any non-target species. The General Licence conditions also state, ‘A check must be sufficient to determine whether there are any live or dead birds or other animals in the trap‘.

I asked Police Scotland to confirm the details of this case, whether a police search had been undertaken, if so, when, and what the current status is of the investigation?

After some hesitation, this afternoon a police spokesperson provided the following statement:

“The incident has been reported to police and enquiries are ongoing“.

There’s more to this case than meets the eye. Watch this space…

UPDATE 19th January 2023: This blog article was picked up by The Courier, here

‘Vast’ egg collection, including hen harrier & osprey eggs, seized by Suffolk Police

Suffolk Police’s Rural, Wildlife & Heritage Team has seized what it describes as a ‘vast’ egg collection in Halesworth. The haul is thought to include clutches of hen harrier and osprey eggs.

The police raid last Friday was part of Operation Easter, a policing initiative that began in Scotland 25 years ago (see here for background) that primarily targets wild bird egg thieves, although in recent years it has been expanded to also cover related crimes such as the online trade in eggs and the disturbance of nests for photography (see here).

This initiative is a good example of partnership-working. It’s facilitated by the National Wildlife Crime Unit that leads on intelligence reports and key partners include UK police forces and the RSPB’s Investigations Team. It’s seen some major successes over the years, with convictions often including custodial sentences, and large numbers of wild bird eggs being taken out of circulation.

More information about illegal egg collections can be found on the RSPB’s website here.

Well done to Suffolk Police’s Rural, Wildlife & Heritage Team for keeping the public informed.

Three barn owls, one tawny owl & one red kite found dumped in ditch – police appeal for information

More detail has emerged about the discovery of five dead birds of prey and two magpies found in suspicious circumstances and the subject of an appeal for information yesterday by Lincolnshire Police’s Wildlife Crime Team (see here).

The five raptors are reported to be three barn owls, one tawny owl and a red kite.

The police appeal for information contained very little detail yesterday – no date of discovery, no specific location and no species identification, although the dismembered wings of a barn owl could be seen in the accompanying police photograph:

Many thanks to BBC reporters Simon Hare and Paul Murphy for providing a bit more information:

If you have any information that could assist the police investigation please contact DC Aaron Flint at Lincolnshire Police, either by calling 101 and quoting incident number 22000747007 or by emailing aaron.flint@lincs.police.uk

UPDATE 27th May 2023: Update from Lincolnshire Police on discovery of raptor body parts found in ditch (here)