Illegal raptor persecution is one of Britain's most serious wildlife crime issues. Protecting raptors from illegal killing is both a conservation and animal welfare priority.
Raptor persecution causes direct, severe welfare harms to individual birds. Raptors poisoned by banned pesticides die slowly from neurological failure; shot birds may survive wounding for hours or days before death; nest destruction kills incubating eggs and dependent chicks. Each event involves real suffering for sentient, long-lived birds with complex social behaviour. The welfare case for rigorous enforcement of wildlife crime law is compelling. Beyond enforcement, the structural incentive for raptor persecution - protecting grouse for shooting - needs to be addressed through licensing of driven grouse moors and penalties that make persecution economically irrational. Public reporting and camera surveillance at known persecution hotspots supports enforcement.