On 7th September 2016 an adult female Marsh harrier was found with shotgun injuries next to a partridge release pen on an East Yorkshire sporting estate.
The bird was rescued and underwent surgery at Battle Flatts vets in North Yorkshire.
After surgery the bird was sent to Jean Thorpe in Ryedale for a period of rehabilitation.
On 31 October 2016, Jean was able to release this bird back to the wild.
A couple of things to mention here. This wildlife crime was uncovered nearly two months ago. We don’t know the circumstances of the bird’s discovery (e.g. Who found it? Who reported it?). We don’t know where or when it was shot, although looking at that x-ray it would be fair to assume the bird wouldn’t have been able to fly far from the location it was shot. We haven’t seen a Police press statement about this crime. Have they charged a suspect? If not, where’s the Police appeal for information? Are they still investigating? Isn’t wildlife crime supposed to be a police national priority? Pathetic.
On a more positive note, the work of Jean Thorpe at Ryedale Wildlife Rehabilitation continues to amaze us (and not forgetting the skill of vet Mark Naguib at Battle Flatts Veterinary Clinic). Jean’s efforts are the perfect antidote to watching those disgraceful braying Tory MPs on Monday evening. They’d do well to visit her for an hour and learn about decency and compassion. Of course, Jean is not the only raptor rehabber in the UK but, living in North Yorkshire, she sees more than her fair share of raptor persecution victims. We’ve said this before but we’ll say it again – Jean’s work is entirely voluntary. If you want to support her work, please consider making a donation here.
UPDATE 4 Nov 2016: North Yorkshire Police have finally issued an appeal for information here. They’ve carefully avoided naming the estate where this bird was found.
Last month somebody stole a clutch of eggs from a Marsh harrier nest in Norfolk (see 
Raptor Persecution UK 