Pigeon fanciers blamed for death of rare falcons

The death of three peregrine falcon chicks in County Antrim has been laid at the door of the province's pigeon fanciers.

In all police found four chicks - two were dead and a third died later - in the nest understood to have been near to Cloughmills.

Police investigating the death of the rare predatory birds, a protected species, said that they believed the breeding pair of falcons that would have been feeding the chicks in the nest, may have been shot or poisoned.

The falcons are at the top of the food chain have no natural enemies, and PSNI Chief Inspector Mark Mason said that the most likely cause of the premature death the parent birds was "human intervention".

The young birds, which had not yet learned to fly or hunt for themselves, would have starved to death.

Bird enthusiast Jim Wells, a Democratic Unionist Party MLA, described the incident as a "terrible act of cruelty".

At present there are fewer than 70 breeding pairs left in Northern Ireland and more than 30 pairs are known to have been either shot or poisoned in the last ten years.

A reward has been offered for any information leading to the persons responsible, who if caught face a substantial fine.

(SP)