13:14Thursday
26 November 2015
Police
and wildlife experts have seen a rise in the number of incidents reported
against birds in Norfolk.
The
county has the highest rate of incidents against birds in the eastern counties,
with 28 reported during 2014, according to the Birdcrime report.
The
county has seen a 55 per cent increase on the number of incidents. The 2013
total was 18.
A
total of 19 of the incidents were reported against birds of prey, including the
illegal poisoning of nine buzzards in north Norfolk.
The
figures have been released days after a rare red-footed falcon was found shot
in the Whittlesey area.
Dr
James Robinson, Director of the RPSB in Eastern England, said: “Illegal
persecution of wildlife has no place in any society and incidents like the
shocking poisoning of nine buzzards here in Norfolk are abhorrent to anyone who
loves wildlife.
“The
Birdcrime 2014 report makes a clear case for closer cooperation between
conservation charities, landowners, farmers, game keepers and police, as well
as public users of the countryside, to ensure that the laws that protect
wildlife are effectively enforced so we can end wildlife persecution here in
the east.”
Birdcrime
2014 documents 179 reports of shooting and destruction of birds of prey, and 72
of illegal poisoning of birds and other animals, in the UK in 2014.
Neighbouring
Lincolnshire recorded 10 incidents, with eight in Cambridgeshire, 13 in Suffolk
but the lowest is five in Bedfordshire.
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