I received a telephone call informing me a bird of prey was injured and taken in at the town hall/Central library. I asked a member of the RSPB to come with me since it was likely to rapidly attract media attention. My main concern was to get the bird, what ever it was, immediate vetinary help. On arrival at Central Library I was shown the bird which was a common buzzard and sadly it was dead. It had apparantly flown down and died. The police were in attendance and a reporter/photographer from M.E.N. The police were concerned that the bird was a peregrine or other rare species(i suppose). I told the police that the bird was not a peregrine and that I would like to give the bird a quick examination and wanted to handle it which they let me do. I informed the police that I would like to refer the bird to the Predatory Bird Monitoring Sheme which is a government and RSPB backed organisation who are best equiped to deal with the death of the bird in this situation and that they need not have any interest in the matter at this stage. They looked to the RSPB representative who indicated that it was OK so the police left me to it. I indicated to everyone in attendance that it was pointless to speculate how the bird had died.
I will let you know the results of the autopsy when I get the results.
