A bird of prey found dead on a North Yorkshire moor had been poisoned, police confirmed today. North Yorkshire Police are appealing to anyone with information relating to the killing to come forward.

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The red kite, which was discovered on Lofthouse moor in May, apparently died after feeding on a rabbit kitten. Tests showed the bird had been killed after consuming pesticides, but that it had also eaten rodents which had been poisoned.

A North Yorkshire police spokesperson said the incident was being treated “extremely seriously”. The kite was discovered on Lofthouse moor by a fieldworker monitoring birds of prey in the area. After a first post-mortem yielded inconclusive results, subsequent tests conducted at the Food and Environment Agency at Sand Hutton, North Yorkshire revealed the cause of death was poisoning with illegal pesticides.

PC Gareth Jones, North Yorkshire Police’s wildlife officer, said that anyone leaving poison for rats and mice has an obligation to collect and dispose of the carcasses. He described the kite’s death as “a great shame.”

Red kites are an endangered species, which have only just made a return to North Yorkshire in recent years, as part of a successful reintroduction programme.

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