The poisoning of a red kite in Northumberland earlier this year highlighted the use of illegal pesticides in the coutryside. John Dean looks at new proposals to protect our wildlife.

THEY are the indiscriminate killers which account for dozens of wild birds and family pets each year. Now the Government is proposing a significant change to the law on pesticides and poisons - amid fears that the next victim could be an innocent member of the public.

The RSPB launched a campaign for tougher laws at the end of last year, its warning given fresh impetus by a tragic incident in the North-East. In January it was revealed that one of 20 red kites reintroduced in the Derwent Valley, near Gateshead, was found poisoned in rural Northumberland.

Police say that next to its body was a rabbit laced with the pesticide carbofuran, which was banned in 2001 and is so toxic that farmers using it had to inject it directly into the ground.

According to the RSPB, poisons claim the lives of dozens of wild birds throughout Britain every year and although eight of the 21 pesticides or rodenticides involved in poisoning cases between 1996 and 2002 have been withdrawn, that leaves plenty more still in use, including stockpiled banned ones like carbofuran.

The poisons have legitimate uses, mainly to protect agricultural crops. However, there is growing evidence that they are also used to lace carcasses aimed at carrion crow and fox, animals regarded by some as vermin, and also birds of prey, such as red kite and buzzard which are seen as a threat to game birds.

As the law stands, it is illegal to put poison down in this way but a driver found transporting it is not committing an offence. That means police stopping a driver who they believe is on his way to lay poison cannot bring a charge because he can claim he was taking the substance to be disposed of.

The RSPB, backed by other wildlife organisations, wants to see a new law of possession without lawful use introduced, as in Scotland, and now Defra has confirmed that such legislation is being proposed.

Between 1990 and 2003, according to the RSPB, there were rarely less than 30 poisoning incidents nationally in any given year, the number topping 50 in 2000.

The RSPB says that between 1989 and 2003, 102 red kites perished, including several in North Yorkshire, where the birds were reintroduced in the Harewood area near Harrogate.

Poisonings also included endangered hen harriers in Northumberland, and the RSPB says it has evidence of abuse of aldicarb - used on onions, potatoes, carrots, parsnips and sugar beet - in parts of North Yorkshire.

Conviction for such abuse can lead to a £5,000 fine or six months in prison, but it can be difficult to prove intent: nationally there were just 19 convictions between 1990 and 2003, 16 of them gamekeepers or those with game interests.

Andy Bunten, North-East regional director for the RSPB, says: "People need to realise that these poisons are illegal, unacceptable and dangerous. There are legitimate uses for these pesticides, what we are trying to stamp out is poison abuse by closing the loophole in the law."

Graham Madge, a spokesman for the RSPB at its Bedfordshire headquarters, says: "We realise that there cannot be a ban because some people have a legitimate use for pesticides. What we are saying is that you should not have them if you have no legitimate use for them. It is like dynamite. Quarry managers have a legitimate use for dynamite but most of the rest of us do not and do not need to possess it.

"Birds of prey are vulnerable to poisons. They will not pass up the chance of a free meal."

The RSPB also says there were more than 1,000 incidents of poisoning against pet dogs reported nationally between 1993 and 2000, with between 28 per cent and 41 per cent each year confirmed as involving pesticides.

There is also a threat to humans, as underlined by carbofuran, which is a killer if ingested, either through the skin or if it gets on hands which can then be in contact with the mouth. The Tynedale red kite died despite only having a tiny amount of carbofuran in its crop.

PC Paul Henery, the Northumbria Police wildlife liaison officer who investigated the death of the red kite, says: "The suggestion to introduce a possession charge makes a lot of sense, it would simplify enforcement.

"We are concerned because not only is this stuff detrimental to wildlife, police also have to be worried about public safety because it is indiscriminate and lethal. We are worried that children may touch it and be poisoned."

The National Farmers' Union, while defending farmers' legal use of pesticides and rodenticides, condemns illegal use.

Neil Kift, its crop protection officer, says: "People with carbofuran should have disposed of it. It should not be around. If someone is using carbofuran then that is for malicious use."

He says farmers underwent training in the legal use of pesticides , adding: "They are acutely aware of what is legal and not legal."

The message is the same from gamekeepers, often accused of laying poisoned bait to kill predators of game birds. Charles Nodder, spokesman for the National Gamekeepers' Organisation, says members are trained in use of poisons and are made aware of what is illegal.

He says: "The organisation defends the right to game management within the law but we condemn unreservedly using pesticides in an illegal way. Everyone is aware that the on-label guidance on pesticides is very strict, as is the law."

North Durham animal rights campaigner John Gill, whose campaigning started a number of years ago when his dog died of poisoning, believes there is a case for banning all poisons. He says: "I am against poisoning just as I am against all persecution."

A spokeswoman for Defra said it worked hard to ensure landowners had all the information they needed on legal methods of pest control but that a small minority of people used them illegally.

She says: "Incidents of poisoning are investigated by Defra's National Wildlife Management Team, and prosecutions have been successful under existing legislation. However, at present, prosecutions are only possible after the crime has taken place and the bird has been killed.

"Defra proposes to address this by introducing an offence in England of being in possession of certain listed pesticides."

The measure is subject to public consultation as part of the review of the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981, which closes on March 24.

* Anyone finding a suspect carcass should contact Defra on freephone 0800 321 600, making sure they do not risk exposure themselves.

* The RSPB is running red kite safaris to see the Derwent Valley birds, starting from Newcastle, on March 11,14,16 and 18. To book a place, contact the reintroduction project office on 0191-496 1555.