The red kite that was shot in my village

This week, a red kite just like the one above was shot in my village. Luckily someone found it and it's still alive.

There used to be loads and loads of red kites, but about 100 years ago they had almost gone. Now people and trying to bring them back to Scotland. Near my village, I think there were two red kites nesting.



The red kite that was shot was born a few miles away at the Argarty Red Kite Centre in June. It went up to Aberdeenshire but found its way back to my village. They knew it was the same bird because it has tags on its wings. The left tag tells you where its from, and the right one says how old it is.

The kite was found on Wednesday last week, and when it was found it had a broken wing and five shotgun pellets in it. Here is what the x-ray looked like when it was taken to the Inglis Veterinary Centre in Dunfermline.



The red arrows show the shotgun pellets still in the red kites body.

The yellow arrows show the tags on the wings. Wire is used to attach the wingtags to the fold of skin between the kites body and the wing.

The green arrow shows the broken wing.

This next x-ray shows the wing after its been mended with a bit of wire. I think they'll take the wire off after a while when the bone has mended just like the took the cast off my leg when I broke it.



I don't much about red kites but I've seen them when I've been walking, and I think they are beautiful. It makes me sad that someone shot it and put it in pain. If anyone knows who did it then should contact Tayside Police on 01738 892650 or contact Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.

I hope it gets better soon and can go back to living in the wild.

UPDATE: 6th June 2010 - The red kite has now recovered and is going to be released back into the wild !

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