Number of loon shootings worrisome

[Staff]

Number of loon shootings worrisome
By Erin Plummer
Monday, June 15, 2009

http://www.citizen.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20090615/GJNEWS02/706159902/-1/CITNEWS
excerpt from above:

A dead loon found on Meredith Bay was found to have been shot by a pellet gun — an incident described as increasingly frequent — but that was not the cause of death.

John Cooley, senior biologist with the Loon Preservation Committee in Moultonborough, said last week the carcass of a loon was collected at Grouse Point on Meredith Bay on April 16 after being reported by anglers on the scene.

Biologists discovered that the loon had been shot three times in the head at close range. X-rays showed the loon had pellets likely from an air gun in its head, which was initially thought to be the cause of death.