The Courier & Advertiser (Perth and Perthshire Edition)
Angus poisoning hotspot
THE A NGUS glens have emerged as a hotspot in Scotland’s league of shame in the poisoning of birds of prey.
Newly released figures reveal poisoning incidents doubled to six across the country last year, part of a persecution tally which also saw raptors shot or trapped and nests destroyed.
The 2013 statistics include the case of a young golden eagle found in Glen Lethnot late last year, a discovery which sparked widespread revulsion but which remains under investigation with no charges brought.
The bird, Fearnan, was found within weeks of being satellite tracked to A ngus and was the victim of carbofuran poisoning, a highly toxic pesticide which Scottish environment minister Paul Wheelhouse yesterday highlighted as a “particular concern”.
Mr Wheelhouse chairs the Partnership for A ction A gainst Wildlife Crime (PA W) Scotland, which, for the first time, released data showing all incidents of persecution alongside poisoning statistics.
In addition to the eagle, a red kite and four buzzards were killed by poison in 2013.
Despite the increase from the previous year, the figure is a significant reduction from 2009 where the five-year figures were at their highest level of 30 poisoned birds, across 22 incidents. The new map also shows there were 15 recorded crimes involving other methods.
Those included the destruction of a white-tailed eagle nest in Tayside last January, followed by the shooting of buzzards in the region in June and October.
Mr Wheelhouse said that a “selfish minority” was responsible for the unacceptable crimes.
“While I am very disappointed these new figures confirm an increase in poisoning figures they are, thankfully, still well below the numbers we saw in 2009.
“Though the numbers are relatively small, there is absolutely no room for complacency, and a lot of work has been going on behind the scenes to tackle this illegal activity.
“I want to be absolutely clear and unequivocal that any incident of poisoning of raptors is one too many and I have charged my officials with exploring, with PA W Scotland partners, how we can further reduce the presence of poisons across our countryside, with a particular concern to safely eliminate any remaining stocks of carbofuran from Scotland.”
He added: “I made clear a year ago that, while poisoning incidents were down, I would be watching to see if perpetrators of
“The production of these annual raptor crime maps makes a significant contribution to public awareness
of this issue”
raptor persecution were merely switching methods of operation and I stressed I would take action if needed.”
He said he was disturbed by the data showing other reported crimes were almost three times the level of poisoning.
Duncan Orr-Ewing, RSPB head of species and Land Management, said: “We welcome the publication of the more complete raptor persecution dataset this year, reflecting both illegal poisoning and other criminal activity against birds of prey.
“It is very worrying that the number of detected illegal poisoning incidents has shown an increase on the previous year.
“The other reported criminal incidents show the deliberate targeting of vulnerable raptor species including hen harriers, red kites and both golden and sea eagles.
“We acknowledge Scottish Government efforts to tackle these appalling crimes, which have no place in modern Scotland, and agree that the production of these annual raptor crime maps makes a significant contribution to public awareness of this issue.”
Scottish Land and Estates chief executive Douglas McA dam said: “We have supported the publication of these poisoning maps since their inception because robust facts and evidence are an essential part of resolving this problem.
“With good progress having been made on reducing illegal poisoning incidents since the high double figure numbers of a few years ago it is helpful to extend the same approach to show other types of illegal killing.”