A wild golden eagle, one of only 442 breeding pairs, has died after being confiscated from a falconry expert who was nursing the animal back to health, and placed in the care of the RSPCA instead.
Roy Lupton, a falconer from Kent, saved the eagle in November last year, after it sustained injuries fighting a friend's bird. According to newspaper reports, Mr Lupton was given permission by the Scottish Executive to take the bird back to his premises in Kent to nurse it back to health. He planned to release the bird in the spring and claims he told Defra of his plans. Nevertheless, on May 5th, his premises were raided by Kent police, a Defra official and an official from the RSPB.
Despite his protests, the bird was seized and taken to the RSPCA's Mallydam wildlife centre in Sussex. Mr Lupton was questioned by police and the case passed to the Crown Prosecution Service. It was later dropped.
Meanwhile, Mr Lupton was allowed to visit the bird at the wildlife centre. He said: "I was horrified by what I saw. The RSPCA was keeping the bird on a concrete floor, which is bad for its talons, and there was leaf mould on the roof of the room, which can cause lung infections in golden eagles."
Mr Lupton was later allowed to take the animal home. However, its condition had deteriorated badly, and on June 17th he took the animal to see avian vet Neil Forbes. Sadly, nothing could be done, and the animal died hours later.
In his autopsy report, Neil said that the bird was kept in inappropriate conditions while in the care of the RSPCA and was "not provided with good practice in terms of husbandry". He added: "Whilst I cannot be certain the bird’s death was a direct result of the Defra seizure and the period of RSPCA care, certainly the stress effect (suppressing the immune system), the persistent systemic infection from the time of leaving the RSPCA care, does indicate a very high likelihood of a causative link between the period of care and the bird’s subsequent death."
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This story has been bubbling here in Cornwall, and has probably done even more to tarnish the RSPCA's reputation locally than any of the management changes in the last few years.
A golden eagle! Imagine the publicity a prosecution would bring! Do we know how to look after it? Does it matter?
One can only hope that newspaper reports are hyped; if nothing else, who would bring a prosecution against the RSPCA for animal welfare offences?
I'm not at all surprised. An occasional client of mine bred finches, and the RSPCA swooped and seized all his birds. When it was established he was guilty of no offence, they had to give them back and did so in poor condition having had no idea how to look after them.
I was involved for the defence in a case where the RSPCA had seized some dogs. I advised the defendant's solicitor that there were grounds for strong complaint in the way the dogs had been treated by the RSPCA, but in the end she was "persuaded" to sign them over and the case was dropped.
Who indeed would or could be brave enough to prosecute this powerful organisation/
Just found this interesting link to photographs of the bird, and the conditions it was kept in:
www.flickr.com/.../72157622627861156
All the court cases I have been involved in, I have supported the RSPCA, but in this instance it seems they were in the wrong. Birds, especially birds of prey are so specialised that it is almost impossible for anyone other than an experienced falconer to care for them properly. In this case, I could very well imagine the Countryside Alliance opting for a prosecution, as I believe they have some falconers as members
Wynne
This is absolutely pathetic! This could have been a fantastic opportunity for the RSPCA to have established links with this obviously highly experienced falconer and benifitted from his expertise, he could have then helped them with future cases in such birds where genuine cruelty was involved. Instead they have been dogmatic, inflexible, idiotic and caused (to use the phrase that they love so much) "unnecessary suffering".
I have a client who keeps ferrets under fantastic conditions and she is horrified about the way the local RSPCA keeps their "rescue" ferrets.
Who wants to bet this gets brushed under the carpet? The RSPCA should have something along the lines of the police complaints commission where one branch can be investigated by another in such cases - won't happen though.
Niall
The obvious thing to do if DEFRA and RSPB thought he was committing an offence (and, as it turned out, he wasn't) would be to raid him, document everything but leave the bird in his care with frequent check visits. No. it had to be "seized", thus killing it.
RSPCA, a private organisation with no statutory powers, is too big for its boots by half.
In this case with a bit of luck the RSPB might prosecute the RSPCA.
No, it won't happen. It will be brushed under the carpet.