Welsh wildlife group takes on abandoned Government project

Stephen Price

A wildlife research group based in Powys has stepped in to pick up a commitment which has been abandoned by the Government – producing maps of where illegally poisoned birds have been found.

Many people probably imagine that the use of poisons to kill protected wildlife is something out of the pre-Victorian era, like cock fighting and bull baiting.

However, this senseless and cruel slaughter is still happening in Wales and elsewhere in Britain, with countless mammals and birds of prey suffering horrific and agonising deaths, even though this practice has been banned since 1911.

It is a crime which not only kills wildlife, but also kills much loved family pets and can even kill people.

This is a wildlife crime that frequently occurs on remote and private land where the chance of detection is very low and most victims are never found. Those cases which are reported and then investigated must be considered to be a very small tip of a very large ‘iceberg’ of sickening rural felonies.

In 2017, in an attempt to combat this wildlife crime, the UK Government initiated a project to map incidents of illegal bird poisonings.

This provided information to the public and other interested parties as to where these crimes were taking place and it was intended that these maps would be updated annually to “provide an invaluable intelligence tool to help fight crimes against birds of prey” (Defra press release 2017).

It now appears that these wildlife poison crime maps have not been updated and there is very little governmental action informing the public that these crimes are still occurring and wildlife is still being deliberately poisoned.

Wildlife Poisoning Research UK (WPRUK) works to place information about the environmental impact of pesticides, biocides and other toxic chemicals into the public domain so that the general public and the media have a better understanding of this situation.

Data on cases of deliberate poisoning of birds has been obtained using Freedom of Information requests. This has enabled WPRUK to produce maps showing where these poisoned birds have been found.

This is information which the Government, for whatever reason, has now apparently declined to put into the public domain. The first map published has shown the location of poisoned birds in Northern England and a map for Wales is planned for early 2026.

Releasing the first report, Dr Ed Blane from WPRUK said: “The fact that 114 years after this sickening practice was banned, individuals are still poisoning our wildlife is deeply disturbing.

“People visit the Welsh countryside to enjoy nature and they will be truly alarmed to learn that poison is still being used to kill wildlife.”

Bob Elliot CEO of the wildlife campaign body Wild Justice added: “Illegal wildlife poisoning hasn’t faded into history; it’s still being carried out in the shadows with very little oversight.

“These findings show that wildlife species are still being killed with impunity, and the public is being kept in the dark about the scale of it.

“Without transparency, enforcement and the political will to confront those responsible, this criminal abuse of our countryside will continue unchecked.”

The full report is available on the WPRUK website: wildlifepoisoningresearchuk.wordpress.com