14 DAY TRIAL // These days, North Yorkshire has gain an unwanted reputation for being the place where animal cruelty is applied to most of the birds of prey, which face death after they are shot or poisoned by inhabitants.
The information is disturbing, since officials from Bird Crime charity foundation show in their 2010 report that in this region people have killed more such creatures than all the inhabitants from north Scotland and Wales and all the counties of the south of England put together.
The Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) indicated that 11 species have been the poachers' favorite target. Due to their role in the ecosystem, 10% of the total number of 117 birds have become victims of North Yorkshire's human cruelty.
They hunt other animals, competing with the efforts of hunters to bring home a beautiful pray. This is the main reason why people want to take them out of the competition, while wiping them off the face of the earth, once and for all.
What the poachers might not be aware of is that, once extinct, the absence of these creatures can put the entire ecosystem in great danger.
The threat is close to turning into reality, since officials from RSPB showed in their study that the number of predators which have become victims has doubled, compared with the numbers gathered in 2009, from 27 reaching to 54.
The activities developed to decrease the number of birds of prey include the poisoning of four red kites and three buzzards and the shooting of a goshawk.
These creatures haven't got the means to fight the deadly attack, since poachers seem to think about more and more creative ways of killing the creatures.
Such an attempts actually took place in Yorkshire Dales, and generated anger worldwide, after a few individuals tried to kill more birds using two-weeks old poisoned chicks as bait for the hungry creatures.
Some of these creatures are in fact endangered species, or are following the path to being considered so. This is the case of the golden eagle and the hen harried, population which have decreased by 20% in only seven years.
Authorities try to establish a legal framework that will be able to punish those who play with the lives of birds of pray, disregarding their population's fragile balance.
"We will look closely at how the new legislation in Scotland works and will consider this when shaping wildlife crime policy in England," declared the spokesman for the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs.