Bird’s poison death ‘was no accident’

THE EXTREMELY high concentration of a rodent-killing chemical found inside the system of a dead buzzard means there is “no way” its death was accidental, investigators have said.

North Yorkshire Police and wildlife charity the RSPB yesterday made a joint appeal for information after the bird of prey’s body was found on Live Moor, close to the village of Swainby.

The buzzard was discovered by a member of the public on March 20 and reported to the RSPB before being removed.

Police said a post mortem examination revealed an extremely high concentration of toxic chemical chloralose in the bird’s system and no other injuries were found, suggesting the cause of death was poisoning.

Inspector Matt Hagen, of North Yorkshire Police, said: “A low percentage of chloralose was commonly used in rodenticides to kill mice but is only currently permitted for use indoors and at a small dose. As such, there is no way this buzzard could have come into contact with such a high concentration of this poison by accident and we believe someone deliberately set out to kill this bird by poisoning.

“Unfortunately, this is the latest in a number of similar cases where birds of prey have been subjected to cruel and illegal persecution here in North Yorkshire. We are doing everything we can to try and find those responsible but we really need the public’s help as they are acting as our eyes and ears around the county.”

RSPB investigations officer Howard Jones said figures show that North Yorkshire is consistently the county with the highest number of crimes against birds of prey.

“Buzzards are a protected species yet continue to be relentlessly shot, trapped and poisoned in North Yorkshire,” he said.