A dozen raptors targeted by shots in Hauts-de-France

A buzzard was found injured by shotguns in a protected area (illustration).

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• A common buzzard was found injured by shotguns in Pas-de-Calais.

• Since September, 13 protected birds, including 11 raptors, have been the target of gunfire in Hauts-de-France.

• A complaint has been filed by the Bird Protection League.

Last Sunday, a raptor was found injured by a walker near Clairmarais, near Saint-Omer, in Pas-de-Calais.

According to the Protective Bird League (LPO), there is no doubt that the animal was the victim of a shot from hunting pellets.

Intentional or accidental, impossible to say.

Still, this is not the first time that a raptor, a protected species, has been killed during the opening season of the hunt in the Hauts-de-France region.

The latest victim to date is therefore a buzzard, which, like all raptors, is protected by law.

It was a walker who discovered the animal, injured in a wing, in the Clairmarais marsh area, an area belonging to the Caps et marais d'Opale regional park.

“This walker took the bird to one of our partner vets.

The radio carried out leaves no room for doubt, the wing of the bird was riddled with shotguns, ”assures a volunteer from the LPO of Pas-de-Calais at

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A dozen raptors victims of gunfire

The raptor was able to be treated by the veterinarian.

He was then entrusted to the wildlife care center of the LPA in Calais where he will have to stay for a long convalescence.

"He is not out of the woods, however, many birds do not support captivity," regrets the volunteer.

Isolated case?

Not really.

According to the LPO, this buzzard is the thirteenth bird of a protected species that has been found leaden in the region since the opening of the hunt last September.

“Without counting all those that cannot be found,” insists the association.

Among these birds, 11 are raptors: “Buzzards, many hawks.

In October, it was even an osprey that was shot in the Audomarois marsh, ”deplores the LPO.

Birds of prey, black beasts of hunters

“If we blame the hunters, we will still be in trouble.

But who else is walking around with a gun?

», Insists the volunteer.

For her, raptors are the bête noire of hunters: "They are considered as competition for certain game such as pheasants", she explains.

And the thesis of the accident, the LPO does not believe it either, ensuring that it is not possible to confuse a raptor with a pigeon or another bird.

To try to find the author of the shot against the nozzle, the LPO filed a complaint against X with the parquet floor of Boulogne-sur-Mer.

While the procedure was systematic in the past, it has become more focused in recent years.

“Complaints must be very substantiated.

That the place where the bird was shot be identified and that whoever discovered it agrees to testify, ”explains the LPO while acknowledging that the culprits were hardly ever found.

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