dont know what others think but , driving out off a field after topping some grass, i happened to look over into one of the empty cattle sheds, saw on the floor some type kestral? bird of prey ontop of a dove- pigeon? eating it while still alive? went over to look closer the bird been eaten alive had 2 plastic rings on one foot and one on its other? put it out of its misery because it was to badly injured, what would others had done?
Cruel Nature
- Thread starter bluebell
- Start date
Same.
Sparrow Hawk i expect.
- Location
- S E Glos
Same., though all (nearly all?) predation in nature involves eating something until it dies.
nature is indeed cruel. I'd have left the raptor undisturbed if I thought it would leave its dinner.
Whenever Chwis Packham talks about nature I am minded of a brutal video of a bear eating a deer calf (?) alive in mebbe Alaska. It goes on and on, as the deer screams, and when the camera pans round, there is mother deer plaintively watching and calling.
The bear gets a feed though.
Whenever Chwis Packham talks about nature I am minded of a brutal video of a bear eating a deer calf (?) alive in mebbe Alaska. It goes on and on, as the deer screams, and when the camera pans round, there is mother deer plaintively watching and calling.
The bear gets a feed though.
- Location
- fakenham-norfolk
Last year I witnessed a sparrow hawk eating a baby barn owl,which was dead by the time got to the scene.
My mrs has been complaining about our Larsen trap, 25 less magpies now, she says its cruel, I said they sit in a cage for one or at most two days, unlike a parrot etc that spends its entire life and the magpie gets a quick end via a lump of wood unlike all the chicks it eats bits of until they die.
Hmm, i dont want a Sparrow Hawk here atm, too many young swallows etc about ,but then i suppose some foreign chap will be eatin them like a hotdog in a few months time
- Location
- Welshpool Powys
Nature is indeed cruel I’ve seen badgers and buzzards take young leverets overnight.
- Location
- Scottish Highlands
Probably the same, but I would leave the corpse as raptors have to live too! They prefer not to waste food and will usually return again and again until a kill is stripped clean..or something else comes along to scavenged it first.
Young sparrowhawks start fending for themselves about now and are very vulnerable. Over 50% will die from natural causes in their first year and over 40% of the survivors will die in their second year. (Statistics from the BTO). A few days of rain means their feathers will get wet and they are less efficient hunters, so the cause of death is usually starvation.
Yes, Nature is indeed cruel but if the hawk survives, it will learn and become better at hunting and killing what it catches. By doing this, it provides a valuable service, removing the weak and diseased before they can spread infection.
I'm afraid the victim in this case was probably a racing pigeon.
Young sparrowhawks start fending for themselves about now and are very vulnerable. Over 50% will die from natural causes in their first year and over 40% of the survivors will die in their second year. (Statistics from the BTO). A few days of rain means their feathers will get wet and they are less efficient hunters, so the cause of death is usually starvation.
Yes, Nature is indeed cruel but if the hawk survives, it will learn and become better at hunting and killing what it catches. By doing this, it provides a valuable service, removing the weak and diseased before they can spread infection.
I'm afraid the victim in this case was probably a racing pigeon.
Exfarmer
Member
- Location
- Bury St Edmunds
We were eating dinner one day and a sparrowhawk took a pigeon on the lawn in front of the window. As we ate ours he ate his dinner. The poor pigeon made repeated attempts to escape even as the sparrow hawk continued to take beak fulls for half an hour. My wife wanted me to out and put the bird out of. Its misery, but I said A it is nature and B the hawk may go and grab some songbird for its meal
- Location
- West Wales
What purpose does a Blue bottle fly serve? Now there really is a special place in hell for those!! Sheep are plastered with thousands and thousands of eggs if they stand still for a few seconds here.
- Location
- Shropshire
Young sparrowhawks are probably only 1 meal away from starvation even when times are good,. If it missed a kill tonight there's every chance it could be unable to hunt efficiently tomorrow.
- Location
- Devon
My mum said at the time that eradicating a species seemed excessive and thought the animal rights people were shown to be 'racist' in not caring about an insect when they would have tried to protect a different type of animal.
I'm usually a pretty pragmatic person and not particularity soft, but even i find this unpleasant viewing, nature certainly is cruel.
- Location
- Exeter, Devon
Meanwhile a bunch of numpties criticise farmers for allowing there animals to be instantly dispatched.
Exfarmer
Member
- Location
- Bury St Edmunds
I just hope that was not staged
If you read “ Death in the Afternoon “ by Hemingway, he describes how thr Picadors horses , which had been disemboweled by the bulls horns, would have the bowels chopped off, sewn up and be sent back in the ring again!
If you read “ Death in the Afternoon “ by Hemingway, he describes how thr Picadors horses , which had been disemboweled by the bulls horns, would have the bowels chopped off, sewn up and be sent back in the ring again!
