When dealing with the press you are always conscious of not sounding like a stuck record. After a while, journalists stop listening. News needs to be new.
This was brought home to me again when publicising our annual Birdcrime report. The figures – 1,206 reports of crimes against wild birds in 2008, 210 reports of birds of prey being shot and destroyed – are new and yet depressingly familiar. The killing, trapping and poisoning goes on year after grisly year.
I think it bears repeating though, for the stories that lie behind the statistics.
Last May, a volunteer checking a peregrine nest site near Cannock found a male bird caught in a spring-trap. Its leg was shattered and its suffering was no doubt great. It had to be put down. The female was missing presumed dead and two chicks were left abandoned.
In the same month, a white-tailed eagle was found dead in Tayside. Tests found it had been poisoned by a mix of pesticides, including the banned substance carbofuran. It is a nasty way to go. The carbofuran would have jammed up its nervous system and paralyzed its breathing.
Three days later 32 cubes of meat laced with the same deadly cocktail were found on fence posts. They need not have been eaten by birds.
You may have heard these stories before but I do not apologise for telling them again, not least because those responsible do not like people knowing what they are up to. These criminals are arrogant, selfish and cruel and they need to be stopped. Well, here is a promise: We will not shut up about this until they are.
Add your voice to ours. Put your name to our call for an end to the killing. www.rspb.org.uk/birdsofprey