Wildlife crime probe launched after 'suspicious disappearance' of rare bird of prey

dailyrecord.co.uk:

A wildlife probe has been launched after the “suspicious disappearance” of a rare bird of prey in an area notorious for shooting estates.RSPB Scotland are appealing for information after a protected, satellite-tagged hen harrier in the Angus Glens suddenly vanished.The tag fitted to ‘Shalimar’, a young female which fledged from a nest on the National Trust for Scotland’s Mar Lodge Estate in Aberdeenshire last summer, was functioning as expected before data transmissions unexpectedly stopped on February 15.It’s the fourth time an endangered hen harrier has disappeared suspiciously in the area since 2017.Officers from the National Wildlife Crime Unit and Police Scotland, supported by the RSPB Investigations staff, carried out a search of Glen Esk, where the bird last transmitted, but failed to find its body or tag.Ian Thomson, RSPB Scotland’s Head of Investigations said: “The Scottish Parliament has recognised the ongoing link between crimes against birds of prey and the management of some grouse moors by its passing of the Wildlife Management and Muirburn Bill earlier this week.“In future, any landholding linked to wildlife crime faces a loss of its licence to shoot grouse.“While these provisions have come just too late to prevent Shalimar becoming the latest hen harrier to likely disappear at the hands of criminals, we hope that the new legislation will help to consign raptor persecution to the history books in Scotland”.A large area of the Angus Glens is intensively managed for grouse shooting and is a notorious raptor persecution hotspot, with multiple confirmed incidents of poisoning, shooting and illegal trapping stretching back over the last 20 years.There have also been several previous incidents where