Raptor attacks

Sad news on the BBC news site today (here) relating to the number of attacks that have taken place on birds of prey over the last decade. There have been a total 1,113 confirmed attacks reported to the RSPB’s Crime Unit in the last 10 years, but the true figure is undoubtedly far higher when you account for attacks that have not been reported. These figures include nest being attacked, birds being shot and birds being poisoned.

I really can’t fathom the mentality of someone who would carry out one of these attacks. As someone who, over the past 2 years, has had a couple of very close encounters with various birds of prey I have nothing but total respect for these birds and always feel incredibly privileged to handle or photograph them at very close quarters (check out the Silverband set in my flickr site over on my blogroll -> to see just how close). When I was younger there seemed to be a “craze” for stealing and trading the eggs of protected bird species, but given that you don’t hear so much about this any more, I’d thought that attacks of this sort were becoming a thing of the past. However with the release of these figures you have to guess that this isn’t the case. It really does sadden me that there are people that would purposely try and harm these magnificent birds and hopefully with the current trend of encouraging children to appreciate the nature around them, maybe the next generation will be less destructive towards our endangered species….