A RED kite was found poisoned just miles from the site where a white-tailed eagle was killed last year.
The bird of prey was discovered, exhausted, near Tannadice in Angus. Tests showed it contained a banned poison.
Last year a white-tailed eagle known as White G and a buzzard were discovered dead after they had also been poisoned, just a few miles
away on the border of the Glenogil and Glenquiech estates.
Close by were 32 pieces of venison laced with poison – making it the largest haul of poisoned bait ever discovered in Scotland.
The latest poisoning of the red kite, which was discovered earlier this month and has since been nursed back to health, has led to police and RSPB investigators to warn that Angus has become a hot spot for wildlife crime against birds of prey.
Last year John Dodd, multi-millionaire owner of the Glenogil Estate, had a record £107,650 docked in EU farming subsidies by the Scottish Government after police found poisoned bait on estate vehicles.
Earlier this year a tawny owl and seven buzzards were found poisoned on two estates – one in Angus and one in Perthshire.
The red kite, named Two Spots, was yesterday released back into the wild at Argaty, near Doune, by the SSPCA after being cared for at their Wildlife Rescue Centre in Fife.
The one-year-old bird was fitted with a radio transmitter so its whereabouts can be monitored.
After the young female kite was discovered, exhausted and unresponsive, tests were carried out by the Scottish Government's Science and Advice for Scottish Agriculture laboratory and a banned pesticide, alphachloralose, was found.
Bob Elliot, head of investigations at RSPB Scotland, said: "It is despicable that yet again, some of our most magnificent wildlife continues to be indiscriminately poisoned by criminals."
He said it was likely the bird only survived because the weather had been warm, because alphachloralose usually causes hypothermia.
Alan Stewart, Tayside Police wildlife crime officer, said: "Despite strengthened legislation and a raft of organisations working together, including those involved in game management, we seem to be no nearer eliminating the poisoning of wildlife."
He added: "This activity is criminal and has no place in the 21st century."
Mike McDonnell, head ranger at the Argaty Red Kite Project said: "The fact that the kite has survived this ordeal is remarkable and we are delighted to offer the location for her second chance. Hopefully she will suffer no long-term effects from her ordeal and will be successfully breeding next year."
A tag on the bird's wing revealed it had hatched and fledged from a nest in Inverness-shire in 2008.
It spent the autumn on the Black Isle before moving to Perthshire for the winter.
The kite was given rehydration fluids at the rescue centre and has been steadily improving over the past week.
SSPCA manager Colin Seddon added: "She's been given a second chance and she got away beautifully.
"She'd been very ill and there was no wind to help lift her into the air, but she looked strong as she exploded off her box."
An investigation into the poisoning is ongoing.
Some estates have viewed kites as a threat to game birds. They are natural scavengers, leaving therm particularly susceptible to poisoning crimes.
