A Case of Pesticide Poisoning: The Use of a Broad-Scope Tof Screening Approach in Wildlife Protection

INTRODUCTION

As fragile ecosystems struggle to survive the impact of human domination of the environment, wildlife protection becomes increasingly important. While it is always preferable to safeguard living specimens in their native habitats, sadly, it is sometimes necessary to deal with the consequences of human interaction with vulnerable animals. Here we describe the use of a ToF screening approach in an incident of pesticide poisoning of a protected bird of prey.

The red kite (family: accipitridae, latin name: milvus milvus), shown in Figure 1, is a bird of prey that belongs to the same family as hawks, vultures, and eagles. This species has approximately 18,000 to 24,000 current breeding pairs in Europe, with around two thirds of this population found in Germany, and further significant populations in France and Spain. Up until the mid-19th century, red kites were persecuted extensively as vermin in the UK. The species was brought back from the brink of extinction by an on-going conservation effort. There are now just over 1,000 breeding pairs in the UK, mainly located in central Wales, along the spine of central England and at various sites in Scotland [1,2].