RSPCA blamed over eagle death

DEFRA and the RSPCA have been blamed by an accredited falconer for the death of an injured golden eagle.

Last November, Kent falconer and Hawk Board member Roy Lupton was exercising his captive golden eagles together with fellow falconers in the Highlands. One of the captive eagles got into a fight with a wild golden eagle, which ended up badly injured. Mr Lupton obtained a licence from the Scottish Government to rehabilitate the eagle.

“A few months later I was ready to release the eagle back into the wild,” said Mr Lupton, adding, “however, on 5 May my house and aviaries were raided by police and the RSPB, who took the eagle to an RSPCA centre in East Sussex. I was later questioned by police over why I was in possession of a protected wild bird. The case was passed to the Crown Prosecution Service, but no charges were brought against me.”

The rest of this article appears in 28th October issue of Shooting Times.

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