by Wildlife activists recently reported an increase in the number of catapulting attacks against water birds in the southeast of London, as they fear a “growing culture” of bird murders in the capital.
Incidents were reported in the areas of Greenwich, Thamesmead and Bexley, including Danson Park and Greenwich Ecology Park as well as Priory Gardens, Orpington.
“It is really rare to survive a day without a report about something,” Rae Gellel, founder of Greenwich Wildlife Network, told The Standard.
“Birds lose eyes – their injuries are really serious and in many cases we cannot save them because we cannot catch them, so they die slowly.”
She recently remembered a terrible incident of a Mallard duck that was shot and the lower beak was demolished. It was found three days later after starving.
Six birds, including a loved one, named Lady Gray, who had been fed by locals for years, were found dead in Priory Gardens on the same day.
Ms. Gellel claims that the attacks by teenagers are carried out with catapults and not by air rifles that are limited to people over the age of 18.
“They are pretty much everywhere on animals, but mainly waterways and packages nuts and bolts were thrown away,” she said.
It fears the emergence of a “growing culture” of this kind of violence, whereby children treat them almost like a sport, and demanded an increased police presence in Hotspot areas and the introduction of fines for parents who do not take responsibility for the behavior of their child.
She claims that the situation has deteriorated since the police triggered the police from their central wildlife crime, which was responsible for the examination and prevention of crimes related to wild animals.
While she recognized that the police resources have been stretched considerably at the moment, especially in view of the national increase in the knife and weapons crime, she noticed: “If it is the case that something less than the crime of the knife is acceptable, then this is not a society in which I want to live.”
“I don’t know what’s behind these attacks or why there has been an enormous increase lately, but since the Lockdown it has gradually increased, and I think it is reflected how violent it is in London at the moment,” she added.
“In the same way, people should not wear knives in public, and they should also wear catapults. If they wear a catapult in public, it is clear what they will do with it.
RSPCA numbers show that Greater London has the second highest number of weapons incidents of all counties in England and Wales.
In the past four years there have been 52 reports of wild animal attacks in the capital, which only ranked behind Kent, which has recorded 61 incidents.
Jacqui Mitchell, founder of the Priory Gardens Wildlife Foundation, told the Standard that she had achieved her “boiling point” about the problem that she claims that she had now become a “daily event” in the Orpington region.
“It has reached the epidemic level and something has to be done and quickly done before our wild animals lose too much that some of our endangered species have died out,” she said.
Ms. Mitchell started the Priory Gardens Wildlife Foundation in March 2020 during the first Covid Lockdown in response to a number of attacks on the nesting ships in the park.
The members follow a Rota and alternate to monitor swans, geese and ducks to ensure their security.
The group also holds meetings with the police and distributes flyers to raise awareness of the threats to the local wildlife.
However, it insists that more has to be done, since the “strange attack” has been “shot to stratospheric figures in 2018 and 2019 since then.
“We urgently need parking guards to try to prevent the delinquents responsible for the wildlife crime in our park,” she said, “unless catapults are prohibited and the judicial system is shot, crooked stricter sentences.”
“I want true justice not a blow on the wrist and a warning.”
The South dyssex Wildlife Hospital, which specializes in the rescue and rehabilitation of all kinds of wild animals, has also reported a “strong increase” of the number of catapulting and shootings in recent months.
In a recent Facebook post, they said: “We saw a strong increase in catapulting attacks here at SEWH, and this poor pigeon is no exception. With a terrible wound on the chest, the damage came so bad that unfortunately nothing that could be done …
“With X-rays that showed a large mass in the neck, a post-mortem revealed the truth. This poor bird was shot with a small rock before it was dead. The entry angle implied that it was fired from below, which causes large amounts of damage.
“This pigeon is only the youngest victim of a worrying trend. Catapulting attacks rise across the country and we have to do something to stop this before it gets worse.”
An online petition was launched by Wildier activists to ban the sale of catapults/ammunition in Great Britain and make catapults illegal in public locations. So far it has won 13,636 signatures.
