A BUZZARD has starved to death after being gunned down in the Yorkshire Dales.

North Yorkshire Police has launched an investigation into the shooting, days after the RSPB charity named the county as the UK’s worst blackspot for crimes against birds of prey.

The bird was found at Kisdon Upper Force, near Keld, by a national park ranger who saw it land near him.

He took the injured bird of prey to a local vet's surgery where x-rays showed it been hit by a number of pellets, causing injuries to its breast and a broken wing.

As a result of the injuries it sustained, the bird was unable to feed and died.

Wildlife crime officer PC Jon Wilbor said: "Due to the condition of the bird and the nature of the injuries when it was found, I believe that it had been shot several days earlier, causing it to starve to death.

"It is not clear if this is was an indiscriminate shooting or a deliberate act of persecution. In either case it is an illegal act that we will not tolerate and we will use all the powers at our disposal to bring those responsible to justice.”

North Yorkshire accounted for about ten per cent of crimes against birds of prey last year, with more incidents recorded there than in Scotland, Wales and all of England’s southern counties combined, according to the RSPB bird crime report for last year.

Conservationists say people working on shooting estates are responsible for many of the crimes, particularly gamekeepers seeking to illegally remove potential predators from grouse moors.

Anyone with information about the shooting should call PC Wilbor at Richmond Police Station on 0845-60-60-24-7.