The biggest name in British birding, Bill Oddie has spoken out against bird crime. He has told the Guardian that landowners who allow gamekeepers to poison birds of prey should be outed.
With 128 birds of prey found dead from poisoning in 2010, according to the RSPB’s annual crime report, Bill is backing the Society’s call to make ownership of deadly poisons an offence.
He has gone further, according to the Guardian (www.guardian.co.uk), demanding that the landowners behind the crimes be held to account: “The cruelty continues, as people with money are offering money and making money. Gamekeepers know they are not above the law, but there are landowners who may think they are. They must be named and shamed”.
Among the raptor victims cited in the RSPB crime report were 20 Red Kites, 30 Buzzards, eight Peregrine Falcons and perhaps disturbing of all, five Golden Eagles, including one poisoned in Northern Ireland for the first time.
The total of casualties was lower than the five-year average of 150 incidents, but shows that the problem of predator persecution has far from gone away.
Back to Bird Watching News
