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THE FORUM
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20-Apr-23, 08:10:15 AM
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23074
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Member Activities / Birthdays / Re: Happy Birthday Paul
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on: 21-Mar-10, 12:04:14 PM
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From Mary Tyson:
Happy birthday, Paul. Thank you for all your interesting posts, pictures and videos, and for making us feel a part of your family.
Mary in Charlotte
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23084
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Other Nature Related Information / General Nature Discussion / Fury as swans brutally killed (OK now enough is enough)
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on: 21-Mar-10, 09:03:12 AM
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POACHERS using bread
attached to fishing lines are snaring and butchering
legally-protected swans from the River Nene in
Peterborough.
Witnesses say once the swans are snared by the barbed bread they are hauled to the shore and clubbed to death behind nearby bushes.
An examination of the klling grounds by The Evening Telegraph and the RSPCA uncovered the dismembered carcass of a mute swan and feathers and wing bones in bushes by a car park off Potter’s Way, Peterborough.
But it is likely the practice has been going on for some time.
And a leading angler says that over the last few months large quantities of fish and wildlife have disappeared from the Nene.
Peterborough City Council officials revealed they had carried out a major clean up of a wooded area nearby shortly after Christmas following the discovery of numerous bird carcasses.
Now animal welfare inspectors have begun an investigation into the barbaric killing of the swans, which legally belong to the Crown and are protected by law with culprits facing hefty fines or jail.
The alarm has been raised by Councillor Marion Todd who said she has received a complaint from a witness who watched as a swan was snared and killed by paochers.
She said: “It’s absolutely dreadful and I’m appalled by it.
“Any bird that has been treated in such a way would die a terrible death and so I want anyone who sees this going on to get in touch with me or the RSPCA.”
Kathy Hornig, animal welfare officer for the RSPCA, said: “We have been aware of this kind of thing happening for some time. Unfortunately, when we find them all that is left is feathers and body parts.
“The people trying to catch the swans are causing them extreme distress.”
According to ET angling correspondent Ken Wade, areas of the Nene are being targeted by people looking to catch fish and birds for food, and it is having a big effect on species numbers.
Holders of fishing rod licences along Peterborough’s waterways are allowed to take home a maximum of two caught fish with them per day, but Mr Wade thinks some are taking advantage of this rule.
He said: “It’s not just swans that are being targeted, fish have been disappearing too.
“The vast majority of anglers are very careful when it comes to avoiding the swans so these people are taking it to the extreme. Butchering a swan is just horrible.”
According to the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB), swan numbers have actually increased by 14 per cent over the last decade. But the organisation said it would be horrified if it was found that people have been killing and eating swans.
Until 1998, killing one of the Queen’s swans was considered treason, but now it is usually punished with heavy fines and short jail sentences.
Anyone who sees swans being targeted should call Cllr Todd on 01733 346687 or the RSPCA on 0300 1234 999.
(I'm not even going to post the pics, it's just too awful) and I feel sick.
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23085
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Other Nature Related Information / General Nature Discussion / Pelican, ’stomped on’ by fisherman, recovers (Horrible person)
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on: 21-Mar-10, 08:57:40 AM
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A California brown pelican whose beak was stomped on and crushed by a fisherman is recovering at a Huntington Beach care center, though the bird must heal further before being released.
The bird was injured Sunday when it swooped down on a fish on the Newport Beach pier that belonged to fisherman Daniel Moreno III, 19, of Perris, Calif.
Moreno was accused of stomping on the pelican’s beak and splitting it. He was arrested on suspicion of cruelty to animals, said Newport Beach police Sgt. Steve Burdette.
“The fracture goes the length of the bill,” said Debbie McGuire, wildlife director at the Wetlands and Wildlife Care Center, where the bird is recovering. “It will take at least a month to heal.”
The bird is eating but not yet flying. The long recovery time is meant to ensure that the beak is strong enough to withstand the 60-foot, head-first plunge pelicans typically make to catch fish in the ocean.
Throngs of brown pelicans, which were recently removed from the endangered species list, turned up along the California coast weak and thin in recent months, a likely result of lack of prey due to shifts in ocean conditions because of El Niño.
Some of the birds appeared to become more bold in approaching humans for food.
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Beauty had better give him an earfull! 
