The reward for information relating to the deaths of five juvenile Goshawks dumped at the edge of the King’s Forest in Suffolk has surpassed £14,000.
Goshawks are protected under the Wildlife and Countryside Act, 1981 as they are classified as rare birds.
The dead birds were discovered by Suffolk Police on January 16, and x-rays revealed that all five contained shotgun pellets.
The force said today (Thursday, January 26) that no arrests have been made yet, and the investigation is ongoing.
Info sought
The award had originally been set at £5,000 by the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB), according to Wild Justice, an advocator for UK wildlife protection, which quickly followed this with another £5,000.
News outlet Rare Bird Alert later launched a crowd-funder to increase the reward and so far this has raised over £4,000, meaning the total reward on offer at the moment is £14,070.
A spokesperson for Wild Justice said: “We are sick to the back teeth of the relentless illegal persecution of birds of prey in the UK, which is mostly associated with land managed for gamebird shooting, be that Red Grouse, pheasants or partridges.
“In partnership with the RSPB, we hope this substantial reward will encourage someone to come forward with information about whoever was responsible for this heinous crime, and that that information leads to a successful conviction.”
Mark Thomas, RSPB’s head of investigations UK, said: “Anyone who values the natural world and abhors those who actively and criminally look to destroy it will feel as outraged as we do about this utterly despicable incident.
“We are calling on anyone who has information to come forward to the police.”
Sgt. Brian Calver from Suffolk Police said: “This is a serious wildlife crime against an amazing schedule one bird of prey that was once driven to extinction in Britain. There is no place for such activity in modern times.
“Whoever is responsible for this needs to be brought to justice and I’d urge anybody with any information whatsoever to let us know.”
