James McCarthy of Wales Online tells the shocking tale of lots of poisoned birds of prey being found on the Glanusk Estate near Crickhowell which is owned by the Legge-Bourke family. It’s well worth a read especially as ‘this incident has not been reported until now‘.
It is well worth a read.
It is well worth a read as a refresher for readers of this blog, but more particularly readers of our big brother blog Raptor Persecution UK. It was RPUK which broke the news on the identity of the estate back on 30 June, and, let’s be fair, who did all the painstaking investigative work to get the facts.
But we are all in favour of the ‘repair, re-use recycle’ maxim. Wales Online appears to be right behind the concept of re-using and recycling too and that can only increase awareness of the issue in Wales. Let’s hope that the police in Wales, Natural Resources Wales and the Welsh Assembly Government try a bit of repairing the compliance with wildlife laws across Wales and in the Brecon Beacons National Park.
RSPB Investigations blog: Trouble in the Valleys, 10 March 2016.
RPUK blogs: Mass raptor poisoning in Wales: location revealed, 30 June; Statement from Glanusk Estate, 2 July 2016; Mass raptor poisoning in Wales: police cover up, 9 March 2016.
This blog: Good luck Green Man Festival, 21 August 2016; Four interesting cases #4, 17 March 2016.
Wales Online: you read it there last!
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I just hate the term “country pursuits” which seems to be an expression meaning dispatching any wildlife in the countryside, especially any that dare encroach on farmland. It implies also that everyone who lives in the countryside is engaged in carrying out such pursuits, which is clearly not the case. Unfortunately we do seem to live in an era where some of our politicians hark back to the earlier industrial revolution where there was little state control over anything and wealthy members of society could do what they liked.
At least it keeps it in the news.
I live very near Glanusk. There has been a sharp decline in the numbers of buzzard and red kite around here lately. Coincidence? I would like to know if anyone is keeping an eye on matters… [chunk of text removed by Mark Avery]. It is also worth noting that Glanusk has previously held a licence to shoot cormorant and goosander on the Usk to protect their fishing business, so are obviously not averse to killing wildlife to protect their sporting livelihood. Watch out [chunk of text removed here too by Mark Avery] …