CHILDREN at a North-East school have been left devastated by the illegal poisoning of a red kite they adopted as part of project to bring the rare bird of prey back to the region.

Headteacher Angela Exley said a "hushed silence" had fallen over the morning assembly when she broke the news to pupils at Winlaton West Lane Community Primary School, in Gateshead.

The bird, named Flash, was one of 20 kites released into the Derwent Valley last summer.

Ms Exley said: "It was very sad. I had to tell the childrenthat it wasn't a natural death, - that someone had deliberately poisoned the bird and had done it in such a malicious and insensitive way."

Analysis revealed that the kite was killed by a lethal dose of the poison carbofuran.

PC Paul Henery, Northumbria Police's wildlife crime officer, said the kite was found in the Tynedale area, after the project team traced it using signals beamed from a tiny radio transmitter fitted to the bird.

The body was lying next to a rabbit and a pheasant, both of which had been laced with carbofuran.

PC Henery said: "The rabbit was found to contain 31mg of the poison and the kite had 1mg of the poison in its body, which was sufficient kill it instantly."

Andy Bunten, regional director of the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds, said: "It is scandalous. As an organisation, we are extremely angry and frustrated that the poisoning and persecution that drove these birds to extinction 200 years ago is still continuing."

He added: "This shocking incident should be a wake-up call to the Government to act quickly to plug a loophole in the law, which allows people to possess lethal poisons, irrespective of whether they have been trained in their use."

Of the 20 kites released last year, 13 remain in the immediate area of the Derwent Valley.

Police have carried out extensive inquiries and have interviewed a man, but say that so far they have been unable to establish who the culprit was.

Anyone with information about the incident is asked to contact PC Henery on (01661) 868514.