Red Kite: Urban Adaptation Welfare Science 2025

Key Welfare Facts

Red kites have expanded dramatically since reintroduction, now breeding in 11 English counties and across Wales.
Urban and suburban areas are increasingly colonised, with kites scavenging from gardens, parks, and roadsides.
Deliberate illegal poisoning remains the most significant welfare threat, causing painful death from rodenticides.
Secondary poisoning from rat poison causes internal haemorrhage and slow death in kites across their range.
Lead ammunition ingestion from carrion causes sub-lethal neurological impairment and deaths in some individuals.
Urban kites face new welfare challenges including power line collisions and feeding on anthropogenic food with nutritional risks.

Welfare Assessment

Red kite welfare in 2025 reflects both the remarkable recovery success and emerging threats from urban colonisation. Supporting lead ammunition reduction and maintaining vigorous enforcement against poisoning protects individual welfare across the expanding population.

What You Can Do

Report any suspected poisoned red kite to the RSPB and local police immediately
Support campaigns to reduce use of second-generation rodenticides as the poison supply chain
Advocate for lead ammunition phase-out across shooting estates used by kites for carrion
Do not intentionally feed red kites meat containing bone fragments or lead shot