Dogs and Drones in Action: Police Searched for Killed Birds of Prey
Together, the Federal Criminal Police Office, the State Police Directorate, the State Criminal Police Office, WWF, and BirdLife Austria combed through two hunting grounds in the Neusiedl am See district - for the first time as a preventive measure against wildlife crime. A foot of a common buzzard was found, which is likely to have died naturally.
Police Search for Killed Birds of Prey
A total of about 20 carcasses were discovered, mostly field hares or deer, two crow wings, and a suitcase trap containing several bones. "No clear evidence of criminal acts was found," noted Christina Wolf-Petre from WWF. This is a "good sign." The main goal of this first-time search operation in this form is to show presence and act as a deterrent, emphasized Karl Frauenberger, head of the Environmental Crime Department at the Federal Criminal Police Office.
Previously, searches were only conducted when a case was already known, as a follow-up search or during house searches. "But actually, it would be good if there were no illegal persecution of protected species at all," said Frauenberger. Therefore, the decision was made to conduct the preventive search operation, which is to be continued in the future.
For particularly endangered species, every poisoned, trapped, or illegally shot animal counts, emphasized the department head. Species that are highly endangered face "losses that the population cannot easily cope with," added Johannes Hohenegger from BirdLife. In the case of birds of prey, for example, a breeding pair is lost if one of the animals is harmed.
Two Hunting Grounds Selected in Burgenland
In the Neusiedl am See district, white-tailed eagles, imperial eagles, red kites, as well as hen and marsh harriers are particularly affected by illegal persecution. For the first preventive search, two hunting grounds were selected where there have been several cases in the past. In one, the tagged imperial eagle "Artemisia," which had previously flown a record distance from Greece to France in its first year of life, was shot and killed in 2022. In the second, another transmitter landed in the Leitha a few months later, according to Hohenegger.
For untagged animals, the number of unreported cases is high. They are often simply disposed of, and the illegal persecution thus goes unnoticed, noted Wolf-Petre. The preventive search could also be extended to mammals in other regions, such as wolves or lynxes. Suspected cases can be reported at https://wildlifecrime.info/ or at meldung@wildlifecrime.at.
(APA/Red)
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