Tag: poisoning

Poisoned kite first to fledge in Strathspey since 1880

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Police Scotland has confirmed that a Red Kite found dead in the Ruthven area near Moy, Tomatinin in October, had been poisoned with a banned pesticide. So another day, another raptor poisoned with a banned pesticide. Which pesticide isn’t identified but it will be one of the eight listed on the Possession of Pesticides (Scotland) Order 2005, many of which are well-known to be favoured by certain employees of the shooting ‘community’ for their toxicity: Aldicarb, Alphachloralose, Aluminium phosphide, Bendiocarb, Carbofuran, Mevinphos, Sodium cyanide and Strychnine. Several of these chemicals are the base ingredients of the infamous ‘Nidderdale Cocktail’ which poisoned two spaniels in North Yorkshire in April this year. Inevitably this poisoning has led to a discussion about the licencing of grouse moors. Would a poisoning incident like this have taken place if an estate’s licence to sell Red Grouse to shooters was potentially be at risk? It’s difficult to realistically see what difference licencing would make in cases like this…

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Dead and Dying | Old World Vultures 101

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Vultures have a bit of a poor reputation. They’re often thought of as little more than dirty scavengers with ‘faces only a mother could love’, typically photographed with their heads stuck inside a corpse or fighting over dead or dying animals. The reality, though, is more nuanced. play hugely important roles in many ecosystems, helping to reduce the spread of disease and bacteria by cleaning up carrion (vultures have very strong stomach acid, which allows them to feed on carcasses infected with anthrax and rabies unlike many other scavengers). In their absence, carcasses take three times as long to decompose, and contacts between mammal scavengers at carcasses increase three-fold. Sadly, though , Vultures are now one of the most threatened groups of birds on the planet.

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