• Privacy policy
  • T&C’s
  • About Us
    • FAQ
    • Meet the Team
  • Contact us
TLE ONLINE SHOP!
  • TLE
  • News
  • Politics
  • Business
  • Sport
  • Opinion
  • Elevenses
  • Entertainment
    • All Entertainment
    • Film
    • Lifestyle
      • Horoscopes
    • Lottery Results
      • Lotto
      • Thunderball
      • Set For Life
      • EuroMillions
  • Food
    • All Food
    • Recipes
  • Property
  • Travel
  • Tech/Auto
  • JOBS
No Result
View All Result
The London Economic
SUPPORT THE LONDON ECONOMIC
NEWSLETTER
  • TLE
  • News
  • Politics
  • Business
  • Sport
  • Opinion
  • Elevenses
  • Entertainment
    • All Entertainment
    • Film
    • Lifestyle
      • Horoscopes
    • Lottery Results
      • Lotto
      • Thunderball
      • Set For Life
      • EuroMillions
  • Food
    • All Food
    • Recipes
  • Property
  • Travel
  • Tech/Auto
  • JOBS
No Result
View All Result
The London Economic
No Result
View All Result
Home Must Reads Good News

£100k worth of smuggled eggs hatched from jailed SAS-trained ‘Pablo Escobar of egg trade’

The International Centre for Birds of Prey has hand-reared 17 birds after their eggs were seized from serial smuggler Jeffrey Lendum by customs officers at Heathrow Airport

Ben Gelblum by Ben Gelblum
2019-02-12 11:15
in Good News, News
FacebookTwitterLinkedinEmailWhatsapp

A bird centre has hatched £100,000 worth of rare eggs smuggled into the UK by an SAS-trained wildlife hunter dubbed the ‘Pablo Escobar of the egg trade’.

The International Centre for Birds of Prey has hand-reared 17 chicks after their eggs were seized from smuggler Jeffrey Lendrum by customs officers at Heathrow Airport.

He attempted to smuggle them from South Africa strapped to his chest in a sling hidden beneath a heavy coat in June.

It included three Cape vultures which became an endangered species in 2015.

There were also four African fish eagles, eight African black sparrowhawks and two African hawk-eagles.

Conservationists at the centre in Newent, Glos., have now successfully raised them into young adults.

RelatedPosts

BBC journalist and wheelchair user Frank Gardner stranded on plane at Gatwick

Met Office forecasts extreme heat conditions for Glastonbury 2050

Royal spending surpasses £100m as household incomes fall for record fourth quarter in a row

WTF! Bernie Ecclestone says he would ‘take a bullet for Putin’

They plan to breed them with the aim of releasing their offspring back into the wild.

Director Jemima Parry-Jones said: “On June 26 we had a call from customs saying they had stopped someone at Heathrow with 19 fertile eggs strapped to his body.

“Two had already hatched by the time we got there and one black sparrowhawk was broken in Lendrum’s body pouch.

“An African fish eagle died three days after hatching due to a yolk infection so we were left with 17 birds altogether.

“We collected them in a portable incubator and brought them back to an incubator at the centre until they started to hatch.

“They were then fed three times a day and weighed. Now they have grown the birds are fed once a day.

“We had to hand-rear them which means they cannot go back into the wild because they are too habituated to humans meaning it’s not safe.

“We will try breeding from these birds and then their young will be parent-reared rather than hand-reared.

“This means the offspring will be viable to go back to the wild.”

Jemima, the daughter of late British bird expert Phillip Glasier, was a witness in the trial of Lendrum who was stopped entering Heathrow in June last year.

He was jailed for three years and one month after pleading guilty to four offences on the second day of his trial at Snaresbrook Crown Court in January.

Lendrum, who has Irish and Zimbabwean citizenship, has a series of bird smuggling convictions spanning decades. He is a former member of the Rhodesian SAS.

In October 2015 he was sentenced to four-and-a-half years in prison for theft and smuggling after being caught carrying four rare falcon eggs in Sao Paulo, Brazil.

He was was released on bail pending appeal and fled the country.

In 2010, he was caught trying to smuggle 14 rare peregrine falcon eggs out of the UK after being intercepted at Birmingham airport when a cleaner noticed him acting suspiciously.

Lendrum has always insisted he is motivated by compassion – and has been vilified by the media.

He told author Joshua Hammer, who is writing a book about his exploits, that he “must have climbed to a thousand nests” but insisted there was “no money in it” and that he only retrieved dead eggs for research.

“The whole media has portrayed me as the Pablo Escobar of the falcon-egg trade,” Lendrum said.

Police described him at the time as “the highest level of wildlife criminal”.

Jemima was awarded an MBE in 1999 for services to bird conservation. She said the birds are fully grown but some could take years to breed.

She said: “The African fish eagles are fully grown but they won’t be at adult plumage until they are five years old so we must wait.

“It will take the Cape vultures five or six years to reach the point where we can breed them.”

The birds belong to the Crown following Lendrum’s conviction – but Jemima believes the centre will continue to care for them.

She added: “Customs officials are going to visit to discuss the birds future because once court case like this is over the birds belong to the Crown.

“They are coming down to discuss the future but I suspect they will stay here.”

The International Centre for Birds of Prey is home to more than 60 species of owls, eagles and hawks.

 

Since you are here

Since you are here, we wanted to ask for your help.

Journalism in Britain is under threat. The government is becoming increasingly authoritarian and our media is run by a handful of billionaires, most of whom reside overseas and all of them have strong political allegiances and financial motivations.

Our mission is to hold the powerful to account. It is vital that free media is allowed to exist to expose hypocrisy, corruption, wrongdoing and abuse of power. But we can't do it without you.

If you can afford to contribute a small donation to the site it will help us to continue our work in the best interests of the public. We only ask you to donate what you can afford, with an option to cancel your subscription at any point.

To donate or subscribe to The London Economic, click here.

The TLE shop is also now open, with all profits going to supporting our work.

The shop can be found here.

You can also SUBSCRIBE TO OUR NEWSLETTER .

Subscribe to our Newsletter

View our  Privacy Policy and Terms & Conditions

Trending on TLE

  • All
  • trending
Abdollah

‘Rescue us’: Afghan teacher begs UK to help him escape Taliban

CHOMSKY: “If Corbyn had been elected, Britain would be pursuing a much more sane course”

What If We Got Rid Of Prisons?

More from TLE

Manchester bomb eyewitness says security were not checking bags

€6bn of EU share dealing rerouted from London to new European hubs on first day of trading

Two Night Stand – Film/VOD Review

Mouth & foot artist captures sunrise in colourful painting at Stonehenge’s summer solstice

Man who gave false details has become one of first Britons in court over Covid-19 rules

Tory MP says people claiming ‘white privilege’ should be referred to Prevent

Attempt to cycle across Channel refused permission to land by French

Tip of the Iceberg: An Interview with ‘Iceland’s Secret’ Author Jared Bibler

List of MPs who voted to force through ESA disability benefit cut

Weather forecast, alerts and UVB index for London, Tuesday 9 June 2020

JOBS

FIND MORE JOBS

About Us

TheLondonEconomic.com – Open, accessible and accountable news, sport, culture and lifestyle.

Read more

© 2019 thelondoneconomic.com - TLE, International House, 24 Holborn Viaduct, London EC1A 2BN. All Rights Reserved.




No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • News
  • Politics
  • Business
  • Sport
  • Entertainment
  • Lifestyle
  • Food
  • Travel
  • JOBS
  • More…
    • Elevenses
    • Opinion
    • Property
    • Tech & Auto
  • About Us
    • Meet the Team
    • Privacy policy
  • Contact us

© 2019 thelondoneconomic.com - TLE, International House, 24 Holborn Viaduct, London EC1A 2BN. All Rights Reserved.