Police have joined forces with wildlife experts to combat bird of prey killings in the county with the UK’s worst record for attacks.
Operation Owl will see officers in North Yorkshire sent to “persecution hotspots” to try and catch offenders.
As part of the campaign, the RSPB has launched a hotline to allow people to report incidents in confidence.
Its latest figures show 54 attacks were reported in the county between 2012 and 2016 – by far the worst area in the UK.
The RSPB said that in 2016, confirmed incidents in North Yorkshire included four shot buzzards, four shot red kites, two poisoned red kites, a shot peregrine, a buzzard nest destruction and seven incidents relating to the illegal use of spring traps.
This is a great initiative,and the more and more People out and about will undoubtedly find more illegal goings on .But We also need our Judicial System brought up to scratch to be in a position to try and prosecute these perpetrators ,which as many know is where it usually falls down,as shown by the multitude of cases of Birds of Prey Persecution and Wildlife Crime which continues unabated with very few convictions.