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Message: <blockquote data-quote="KnockerNorton" data-source="post: 1237543" data-attributes="member: 66452">Cos I *am* a bit of an authority on that Eagle Owl corpse, relatively speaking. What the policeman said in the press statement was not what was on the autopsy report. Cause of death was unknown, but was not attributed in any way to 2 old shot encapsulated in the pectorals. The bird was more than a decade old.But that's all irrelevant anyway. We're talking at least a hundred eagles a year which are presumed to be either persecuted or starving (and interesting how everyone is assuming it's all persecution, even though the report gives both potential causes equal weight). If it's such an open and shut case, where are the prosecutions? Even in a magistrates court, where the burden of proof is less? That's 1,000 incdents in the last 10 years, just Golden Eagles, allegedly. So where is the proof that would convict? And that is my point. Nobody would be convicted on such an absence of evidence masquerading as proof. So people should not be judge and jury and convict any sector on here either. Not without the evidence, and so far that's lacking. It may indeed all be due to gamekeepers, but it's too early to conclude that yet, despite the BBC article encouraging you to do so.</blockquote>