Common buzzards are now the most numerous UK raptor, having recovered from historic persecution with significant welfare implications for individual birds.
Buzzard welfare recovery demonstrates what legal protection and habitat availability can achieve. The species remained persecuted in eastern England into the 21st century, limiting welfare-positive range expansion. Secondary rodenticide poisoning from consuming poisoned rabbits and rodents causes anticoagulant toxicity with slow welfare-compromising death. Continued illegal persecution through pole traps and poison baiting represents ongoing welfare harms. Reporting suspected persecution remains essential to enforcement.