sea eagles

[johnfish]

dont know if any of you have been fortunate enough to sea the white tailed sea eagles in kerry ,i was last august,well 2 birds found poisoned by farmers over the last 2 weeks,thats 7 found poisoned since the reintroduction in 2007,i hope if any anglers see anything suspicious or find any dead birds they contact the garda

[JOHN1]

this is from RTE. shocking

In what has been described as the worst spate of poisoning in recent years here, 10 protected birds of prey have been confirmed poisoned.

The birds, which were found over the past few weeks around the country, include three Red Kites, two white-tailed eagles, a golden eagle, three buzzards and a peregrine falcon.

Toxicology tests confirmed that some of the birds were poisoned by ingesting meat baits laced with alphachloralose, while others were poisoned by carbofuran, a substance previously used as a pesticide but now illegal in Ireland.

AdvertisementThe two red kites and a peregrine were found dead in Co Wicklow, a third red kite released in Northern Ireland was found dead in Co Kildare, a golden eagle in Co Leitrim, and buzzards in west Waterford, east Cork and Donegal (one of which recovered from poisoning).

Within the last few weeks two white-tailed eagles were found dead near Beaufort, Co Kerry.

A male white-tailed eagle released in Killarney National Park in 2008 was found in the River Laune near Beaufort by Stewart Stephens, Laune Angling Club, on 4 April and recovered the following day.

A second male white-tailed eagle, released in 2007 was found on land in Beaufort on 12 April. Both eagles were in excellent condition and had been surviving well in the wild for 2-3 years until poisoned.

An investigation is ongoing by the Department of Agriculture and gardaí in Killarney.

'The loss of a further two white-tailed eagles at this time is devastating,' said Dr Allan Mee, Manager of the White-tailed Eagle Reintroduction Project in Kerry.

'The older male could have been one of the first birds to breed in the wild in Ireland in over 100 years had it survived. Indiscriminate poisoning is literally killing our chances of re-establishing a population here,' he added.

The deaths of these birds brings to 13 the total number of white-tailed eagles found dead, seven of which have now been confirmed poisoned, all in Co Kerry.

55 birds have been released in the county since 2007

[KERRY1]

This is sad. Who would want to do such a thing and why?
Who would you report this sort of thing to? What authority or body?

[JOHN1]

This is sad. Who would want to do such a thing and why?

Not pointing the finger here, but sheep farmers DONT like eagles, because eagles like LAMBS

[johnfish]

dont think they are specifically targeting eagles ,most likely foxes ,but this is why poisoning is illegal its non specific cats ,dogs birds badgers anything that eats carrion will die.

[mickmick]

Very sad news, if they're genuinely targeting foxes then they could lay the meat under a platform. And you'd bankrupt yourself trying to poison all the crows in Kerry. There seems to be a minority of farmers out to destroy the eagles. Probably the descendants of the ones who exterminated the original population.

[zeke]

i saw one(dead one)in Augrish Head last year ,not sure tho what kind/species of eagle

[corbyeire]

sad news, the reintroduction process involves some peoples whole careers, some amounts of money and for what, the same ignorance as before

farmers get compensated if the eagles take any lambs, which all told seems very little if the stats from scotland is anything to go by

[twinkle]

seen four buzzards out in balbriggan last sunday awesome sight they were just circling in the sky lad told me 3 had been found in gormastown poisoned a few weeks back

[JOHN1]

seen four buzzards out in balbriggan last sunday awesome sight they were just circling in the sky lad told me 3 had been found in gormastown poisoned a few weeks back

buzzards have made a great comeback the countryside is covered in them over the last 5 years or so. sad news of them been found dead aswell

[baitdigger]

Mainy poisons are secondary and if the eagles feed on a carcass that has been poisoned itself (crow, fox ect) they ingest the poison themselves.
Very few eagles kill lambs but they are only too willing to feed on a lamb carcass which has died of natural causes. Unfortunatley this is prolific in birds that have been captive bred and then rehabilitated into the wild. All the farmers/keepers see is an eagle eating a lamb, most of them need no further need to investigate cause of death.

[twinkle]

see they found 2 more dead in kerry it was on the lunchtime news to day

[JOHN1]

see they found 2 more dead in kerry it was on the lunchtime news to day

thats not good news at all

[corbyeire]

see they found 2 more dead in kerry it was on the lunchtime news to day

so depressing - why bother!

[dbrock]

wonder could these birds be eating rats which are poisoned?

[johnfish]

its farmers poisoning dead sheep and lambs

[dbrock]

its farmers poisoning dead sheep and lambs

i guess that could be it, they could be left out for foxs, id seriously doubt there left out for eagles, its a pity all the same

[corbyeire]

they are not even supposed to be doing it for foxes either

as was said last night on the news - we havent come very far in the 110 years since we last made them extinct

[baitdigger]

wonder could these birds be eating rats which are poisoned?

No, modern rat poisons aren't secondary, and don't contain the nasty cocktail of chemicals that john 1 listed in an earlier post.
I dont know if Irish law is similar but in the UK 'The Protection of Animals Act'made it illegal to "put or place poison,poisonous fluid or edible matter except for the destruction of insects, invertibrates rats,mice and other small ground vermin" way back in 1911 so I guess it could still be relevant here.

[dbrock]

interestng , i wonder is it illegal to put the poison down over here in ireland, ?