Crowd out the Wildlife Criminals
Pledge your support for Britain's persecuted raptors
This summer a Red-footed Falcon, a globally Near Threatened raptor, spent a month at Chatterley Whitfield Colliery in Staffordshire and nearly the same amount of time at Willow Tree Fen near Spalding in Lincolnshire. A scarce annual visitor to Britain this beautiful bird was confiding and gave wonderful views - and much joy - to the large number of people who saw it.
On the 24 November the RSPB released the awful news that it had been found shot in Cambridgeshire. They are now offering a £1000 reward for information about the shooting.
We applaud the RSPB's response, and the tireless and often thankless work they do trying to bring to justice those who illegally persecute our protected birds of prey. However we want to raise even more money to add to the reward fund to encourage anyone with information to come forward. We also want to send a strong message that these kinds of crimes against wildlife are socially unacceptable and birders and all lovers of wildlife have had enough.
All raptors are - in theory - protected but they are suffering from illegal persecution. Across the UK they are being poisoned, trapped, and shot. Britain should be a safe-haven for all birds of prey - including rare vagrant individuals like this Red-footed Falcon.
Any funds raised will be added to the RSPB's £1000 reward for information about this scandalous killing. However if the reward is not paid out, the money will still be put to extremely good use and all of it will be donated to Birders Against Wildlife Crime (BAWC). This voluntary group set up only two years ago have organised events such as Hen Harrier Day and the 'Eyes In The Field' Wildlife Crime Conference. Donations will help them continue to raise awareness about raptor persecution and all other wildlife crimes. BAWC will use it to promote their 3Rs campaign – helping everyone to Recognise, Record, and Report wildlife crime.
Please consider pledging however small or large the amount and send a message to the persecutors of our raptors and other wildlife. Lets make sure they know that they are in the minority and their crimes belong in the past.
Together we can Crowd out Wildlife Criminals
Pledge your support
Click on the image below to pledge your support today
Thank you
The Rare Bird Alert team
Dick Filby, Chris Batty, Brian Egan, Pete Hayman, Stuart Piner, Will Soar.
