Birdwatch Ireland are horrified that live pigeons coated in banned poison with their wings clipped were tied to the ground as bait for buzzards who ate them and then died.
The two dead buzzards were found beside three dead pigeons in Roscrea, County Tipperary. BirdWatch Ireland Development Officer Niall Hatch said the banned insecticide Carbofuran was used to kill the buzzards.
He said the toxin is so powerful that a quarter of a teaspoonful is enough "to kill a fully grown adult.”
“There is a really serious public safety issue here as well,” he told The Irish Times. “Whoever is responsible for planting the poison took a real risk themselves.”
Had the pigeons been found by children who attempted to rescue them, “you could be reporting on an even worse story today,” he added.
No reason for the killing has been discovered. Buzzards have been re-introduced gradually into Ireland over the past few decades. They kill small animals but are not considered a nuisance by most farmers.
BirdWatch Ireland say this was a particularly abhorrent incident.
They had been monitoring the buzzard’s nest and the two birds who died were young chicks.
“We had been watching them all summer and it was sickening to see them killed like that for no reason,” one volunteer told The Irish Times.
The farmer on whose land the birds were found said : “They have not caused me or any of the other farmers in the area any problems whatsoever. I gave nobody permission to come on my land and lay down poison, and whoever did so was trespassing.”
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Switch to the desktop site to post a comment.nicgearailt | Aug 27, 2011, 09:05 PM EDT
how inhumane...what kind of mind plans this...this is evil.. no bird, animal, or creature deserves this. how can people do this ?...makes you wonder what else this individual is capable of doing...chilling!!
Monsoonman | Aug 27, 2011, 08:46 PM EDT
What's wrong with vultures? they are natures sanitation engineers and only live on carrion. BTW: I think the bird pictured is a falcon, which only kills it's prey and is not a carrion eater.
ellenfromcork | Aug 27, 2011, 08:00 PM EDT
The picture shown w/ this article depicts neither pigeons nor buzzards. Another IC lack of proper investigation.
Searlit | Aug 27, 2011, 04:31 PM EDT
Sick!
JBRAFTREE | Aug 27, 2011, 03:25 PM EDT
Gotta be a better way to blow away the buzzards. How about a cupla marksmen?? We used to call them 'dingers'.
Pittsburghkid | Aug 27, 2011, 11:39 AM EDT
God save us from "Do Gooders". They introduced the buzzards, and now they are trying to kill them off. It happens in America. In West Virginia, they introduced Coyotes, which are a western USA wild dog like a smaller version of a wolf. Coyotes were never east of the Missippi. Now Coyotes are in New York city.
beaumax99 | Aug 27, 2011, 10:56 AM EDT
I agree with you pugsmom. How inhumane!! Whoever arranged this should be shot.
carrickcourt | Aug 27, 2011, 09:41 AM EDT
For people in North American buzzards are hawks, buteo hawks to be specific. Not sure which buzzard species this article is referring to. There are very few birds of prey in Ireland and it is shame to see some idiot trying to kill buzzards that are being reintroduced. Most people in the USA refer to vultures as "buzzards", which they are not as buzzards are buteo hawks. Hawk migration has started in North America. I do input for a hawk migration watch site in northwest Connecticut, USA for the Hawk Migration Association of North America, hawkwatch.org.
pugsmom | Aug 27, 2011, 09:28 AM EDT
Just when I think the "human" species can't stoop any lower than the gutters it already inhabits..........