Raptor poisoning

At last, positive action on the problem of eagle poisoning is possible, with the offer of a reward by the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (your report, 22 August).

However, some questions require positive answers and action:

1, If the poisons are illegal, then where are they obtained, and by whom?

2, The districts involved are sparsely inhabited and the police would, one should think, not be encumbered with problems of identity, and the first suspects will be comparatively few.

3, To what extent are land owners or lessees responsible for crime or mistakes of those whom they employ to provide the means of sport?

4, This not just a problem of the Highland areas, but of other notions of land use, so the Scottish Parliament should become actively involved. But is it?

(REV) WILLIAM SPEIRS, Buccleuch Street, Innerleithen, Peeblesshire