Little Owl found dead in Fenn trap on Queen’s estate
Let’s ask ourselves a question: who – or what – uses hundreds of thousands of traps to kill millions of native mammals and birds? Mammals like foxes, stoats, Mountain Hares, and birds like carrion Crows, Jays, and, it turns out – and who knows how often this has happened in the past – Little Owls. These are tiny birds: about the size of a starling, or 22 cms (8.7 in). They typically breed in small holes or clefts, and will often hunt for food by swooping to the ground and running after their prey (small mammals), chasing them into tunnels. Ground-based traps with open entrances which are designed to kill mustelids. It seems inconceivable that ‘accidents’ like this haven’t happened more regularly. We’ll never know of course because few of us are looking into traps, and even fewer are doing so before gamekeepers empty those traps and dispose of evidence. The thanks of all of us should go to the member of the public who discovered this shocking example of gamekeeping’s grim toll on our wildlife, and kudos to the National Anti Snaring Campaign who reported it on Facebook.
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