The Pablo Escobar of falcon eggs

The kingpin of the trade in rare birds has been jailed. The prize for any successor will be great.

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The eggs of rare eagles can fetch up to £100,000
(Image credit: Credit: robertharding / Alamy Stock Photo)

Like the late American president Theodore Roosevelt, I've always been a great believer in taking an active approach to animal conservation. Indeed, the walls of my modest abode are covered with the heads of the animals that I've "conserved" over the years during various safaris, hunts, expeditions and other ventures into the great outdoors. So, I can do little but tip my hat to Jeffrey Lendrum, known as the "Pablo Escobar of the falcon egg trade", who has "been jailed for three years on smuggling charges", as John Simpson reports in The Times. Last year he was caught at Heathrow with "falcon and kestrel eggs strapped to his torso with bandages". If hatched, "the birds would have fetched £100,000".

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