Rare birds reared on the Scottish estate of Harrods owner Mohamed al Fayed have been poisoned.
Three red kites released from the Balnagown estate in Easter Ross have been found dead and another eight are missing, leaving only five of the original group of birds still accounted for alive since they were introduced to the wild.
Mr al Fayed was said to be upset after hearing of the fate of the birds.
One was found at Inchory in Moray, one near Aviemore and another in the Fort Augustus area. They were discovered after the transmitters installed to monitor their reintroduction showed they were no longer moving.
The birds were all found on sporting estates and the poisonings are believed to have involved the illegal insecticide Carbofuran.
Balnagown has supported the RSPB campaign to re-introduce red kites to the north of Scotland.
Gordon Robertson, the Balnagown estate manager, said: "Mr al Fayed is very upset about this. We keep the birds in old eagle cages in his private garden on the estate before they are released.
"Red kites don't kill anything - they eat what others have killed. There are, however, some people who think because it has a hooked beak and claws then it must be killed.
"Mr al Fayed is saddened by what has happened. He thought people were more enlightened about birds of prey. The situation is bad with another eight of the 16 missing, and we fear for them. We have another 12 on the estate just now being prepared for release when the RSPB say it is time."
The birds were a common sight in the north of Scotland 250 years ago but were hunted to extinction. A number of gamekeepers see the birds of prey as a threat and some unscrupulous individuals have been prepared to poison them.
Brian Etheridge, RSPB red kite officer, said: "Some gamekeepers still use poison to control what they see as vermin. Not only foxes and crows but birds of prey, as they think they will interfere with game birds.
"Red kites are field scavengers and do not pose a threat to other birds. Poisoning is a lazy method of pest control, dangerous to domestic animals and, indeed, humans. It is very frustrating.
"Because they scavenge they are vulnerable to poison. We estimate about 40% of all red kites released have been poisoned - it is a shocking figure."
The birds are taken from Black Isle nests and kept at Balnagown for about two months before they are freed.
They travel extensively in the first year or so but come back to where they were released in order to nest but with so many being killed the RSPB and the estate fear few will achieve this.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article