LONDON, Nov. 3 (UPI) -- RSPB, the British bird charity, says it wants the possession of poisons used to illegally kill wildlife to be outlawed in England, Wales and Northern Ireland.
There were 128 reports of birds of prey poisoned in the United Kingdom last year including the first poisoning in living memory of a golden eagle in Northern Ireland, the group said.
Under a 2006 law, it is already illegal in England and Wales to possess certain pesticides that are harmful to wildlife, but the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds says the law is "impotent" because a list of which substances are controlled in this way has never been published, with the result that there have been no prosecutions under the law.
"If this government is serious about tackling illegal persecution of birds of prey, it really needs to start taking meaningful action," Martin Harper, the Conservation Director of the RSPB, told the BBC.
"Putting additional controls on the possession of these common wildlife poisons would be a relatively easy first step, especially as these controls would not affect legitimate pesticide uses."
