Hot weather has driven hungry magpies to attack donkeys in what is becoming a “critical” problem, a sanctuary has said.
Four elderly donkeys at Radcliffe Donkey Sanctuary in Huttoft, Lincolnshire, are being “picked on” by “flesh-eating” magpies that are inflicting wounds the size of £2 coins onto the animals.
Volunteer Ross Clarke said one particular donkey, Jack, was being made “a meal of" by the birds pecking through a dressing on one of the wounds. Telegraph.
Blogger: When we moved into our present postcode some 44 years ago - the only magpie I ever saw was one which was a pet and which voluntarily stayed with its teenage master.
Today, we are at infestation levels. To these we can add a great many crows and jackdaws which also plunder the nests of songbirds at a higher rate than do even the alien, grey squirrel predators and domestic cats which do not wear a collar and bell.
The absence of songbirds on my walking treks in local woods and parkland grieves me greatly. They used to be there - and are no longer. Pesticides certainly cannot be blamed in these particular areas!
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