14. The last Great Auk in Great Britain was killed on the island of St. Kilda in 1840 after being accused of witchcraft by the locals
The Great Auk (Pinguinus impennis) was a species of flightless alcid that was driven to extinction in the mid-19th century as a result of human aggression. Although not closely related to penguins, the latter was so-named in memory of their physical resemblance to the great auk; measuring 75-85 centimeters in height, 5 kilograms in weight, and with a wingspan of only 15 cm thus rendering the bird flightless, the great auk had a white belly and a heavy hooked beak. Surviving on rocky and isolated islands in the North Atlantic, particularly those near the coastlines of Canada, Iceland, Norway, Ireland, and Great Britain, the great auk flourished with an abundance of food and an absence of natural predators; recognized as early as the mid-16th century as being endangered by the high demand among Europeans, the great auk became the subject of some of the earliest environmental laws in an effort to save the species.
In July 1940, on the islet of Stac an Armin, St. Kilda, Scotland, the last great auk was known to have existed in Britain was killed. After a huge storm resulted in the deaths of several local fishermen, the bird was netted by locals and in an act of general hysteria was blamed for the storm and deaths. Charged with witchcraft, the bird was placed on trial in a local church and found guilty; it was later stoned and beaten to death on the beach where it had originally come ashore. Soon after this incident, on June 3, 1944, the last two great auks in existence were killed on Eldey, off the coast of Iceland, when Jón Brandsson and Sigurður Ísleifsson strangled the surviving adult and smashed the last known egg.