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A Scopoli’s shearwater has been taken into the Wildlife Centre for Recuperation, victim of a shotgun. It is the second case in a month when a protected species has been taken for the same reason. The last time it was a hawk, a peregrine falcon. This is not the permissible time for hunting and so it cannot have been shot in error. We have made official complaints to SEPRONA and to the environmental and hunting authorities, hoping that they can find the guilty person and solve this illegal practice.

The Scopoli’s shearwater (Calonectris diomedea) is a marine bird that lives in the open sea. It goes to land only when it wants to breed. At this time of the year, groups begin to be seen near the coast. The injured shearwater was found a mile out to sea, with a recent wound in its wing. Once it was looked at, a break was seen caused by a shotgun cartridge. It is hard to imagine how this could have occurred.

The bird is now being cared for in the Centre to see if it can recover adequately. Shearwaters become really stressed when they are deprived of their liberty. We are worried how to give support for a long time at the Centre, enough required for mending the fracture. It is complicated in Centres of Recuperation because of the time needed to cure the fractures and they do not survive well in captivity.

The shearwater is a species of high level protection, catalogued as “vulnerable” in the Spanish Catalogue of Threatened Species by Royal Decree 139/2011. The penal code provides for prison and heavy fines for anyone who shoots at any of these species of high level protection.

You can watch commemorative video of the 45 years that GOB has been in Menorca.