Red Kites Found Dead

[JeffH]

Anyone see the article in yesterday's Times about 3 more Red Kites being found dead (poisoned) in Scotland -

Police called in to investigate as poisoner kills rare birds breeding in the wild - Times Online

When is the persecution of these magnificent birds going to stop

Jeff

[naturelover]

thats bad this has got to stop,gamekeepers need getting fined for doing this,if it was a cat or dog they would land up in court,so why havnt birds of prey got that same protection.?

[aestarte]

I shouldn't read these threads because I always get upset and mad. I agree these people need something what is the exact law about things like this because it seems to be more and more frequent recently, is it because they know they can get away with it or what? Those beautiful birds and it says one had fathered all those others. GRRRRR!!!!!

[Tazni]

This is terrible news =[


Whoever does it needs to sort themself out :@

[guineapig]

Richard Ingrams, writing in the Independent, thinks that supporters of these birds are misguided. In his view they eat poultry and smaller birds like magpies and ducklings and were rightfully shot at in times gone by. If their numbers continue to increase the shooting will have to start again, he says. I'm not quite sure what poultry and ducklings they were eating in Scotland (surely they're domestic and ornamental fowl) but if they truly do eat smaller wild birds then their numbers will only increase while there are small birds for them to eat. The demise of small birds is for reasons completely unrelated to red kites. It's like saying seals have to be culled because they eat all the fish.

[Ukwildlifeo]

They do it because they can do it without worrying about being caught.

Originally Posted by guineapig

It's like saying seals have to be culled because they eat all the fish.

Unfortunately many seals are killed for this exact reason, though thankfully not so much in the uk

[buteo_buteo]

I've been to Argaty many times and this really saddens me. I know the gamekeeper on the neighbouring land is all for the kites and provides food for the feeding station, so he's not likely to be involved.

Listening to Radio Scotland earlier the owner of Lerrocks farm seemed to indicate it was someone with a general grudge against them or the RSPB. Whoever it was is sure to get away with it as it's such a difficult thing to prove

[dmclean2]

I thought that Kites were maily scavengers , yet not too shy to take the sick or weak, I realy can't get my head round why anyone would want to Poison such a beautiful bird, in their past life you could probably find these people leading a witch hunt against someone curing ailments with herbs, Shocking.!
Duncan.

[Dogghound]

WHAT A SURPRISE

I carnt even find the words to describe the jokes that did this

All i can say is WHY???????

[paulchandler6]

Red Kites are mainly scavengers. They also feed on insects and I've even seen them feeding on worms. They very rarely take live mammal/bird prey.

Paul