Police asking for witnesses as man uses his air rifle to shoot at endangered falcons

The Peregrine Falcon - one of the most beautiful birds of prey in existence, has been endangered for many years, not just in the UK but worldwide. Because of this, they’ve been heavily protected and monitored to make sure they can survive and grow as a species.

It’s inconceivable that someone would ever try to target the bird, but we understand that the police are looking for a man in the Yorkshire area who was seen shooting at a falcon.

Wakefield is only home to two adult Peregrines, and in fact, they’re two of a very small population in the north of England, so they attract a lot of interest all year round. They’ve been living in the city for half a decade now after the Wakefield Naturalists Society (WNS) set up a nesting box at Wakefield Cathedral as a safe place for them.

Last Wednesday afternoon, police received reports that a man was using his air rifle to try and hit one of the birds at a local allotment. A shot from an air rifle could end up killing a Peregrine Falcon and cause serious injury at the least. The leader of the WNS project has said that he would be very surprised if this man wasn’t aware of the protected status of these birds, therefore it’s shocking to think that they’d want to cause any harm.

The consequences will be harsh for this individual once found, however, so people will be hoping that the relevant actions will be explored quickly.

The Peregrine Falcon is the world’s fastest bird on record and is a very impressive species that are doing well in attempts to recover its population from the lows 1980’s and 90’s.

We know that any responsible shooter feels very strongly about making sure the community are using their air rifles and other firearms appropriately, and organisations such as BASC do a lot of work for wildlife conservation.

It’s sad to see individuals abusing the privilege of being a trusted member of the shooting community, so we encourage every enthusiast to stand against acts like this which ruin the reputation of shooters.