Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
BIRDS OF PREY SLAYED
Nearly three-quarters of birds of prey killed illegally were on land managed for gamebird shooting, the RSPB has revealed. All birds of prey are protected but many are shot down by gamekeepers who see them as a threat to their pheasants, partridges and grouse.
Norfolk and Dorset, two lowlands areas dominated by pheasant and partridge shoots, recorded the highest number of incidents, with 13 and 12 respectively, while Yorkshire was the third highest, with 10. Five people were prosecuted in 2021 for offences relating to bird of prey persecution, all of them gamekeepers, the report said.
A white-tailed eagle, part of a release scheme on the Isle of Wight to save the species, was also discovered in Dorset with seven times the lethal dose of rat poison.