THREE golden eagles, a buzzard and a sparrowhawk have been found dead on Skibo Estate, Sutherland, in the last week. The bodies have been sent for toxicology analysis at the government laboratory in Edinburgh, on suspicion that they had been poisoned. Now, unless those THREE golden eagles all died of old age at the same time on the same estate, and the buzzard and sparrowhawk died of a heart attack at seeing the dead eagles, I think it’s fair to assume that the toxicology results will prove to be positive and that some of these birds have been illegally killed by someone with access to poison. Even PC Plod should be able to work out the connection here.
The police investigation is continuing and no arrests have been made. A statement from Skibo Castle said: “The owners and management of Skibo Castle are committed conservationists and do everything they can to support the welfare of wildlife and birds. We will cooperate fully with the authorities in their investigation”.
BBC news story: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/highlands_and_islands/8676871.stm
Skibo is a prestigious highland estate and was the location for Madonna’s marriage to Guy Ritchie in 2000. The estate includes a 3,000 hectare grouse moor and a members-only hotel. Skibo was bought for £23 million in 2003 by Ellis Short, an American multi-millionaire investment banker who also owns Sunderland football club. In 2007, his wife, Eve Short, is alleged to have threatened two pensioners who were walking their dogs on the estate, telling them she would have her gamekeeper shoot the dogs if they were seen again. According to the report, the estate later apologised to the pensioners after realising that the pensioners had every right to walk their dogs there, under the rules of the Scottish Access Code. http://dogblog.dogster.com/2007/01/07/obnoxious-owner-of-skibo-castle-threatens-to-shoot-pensioners-and-their-small-dogs-for-walking-on-property/
Raptor Persecution UK 
Dreadful, just dreadful…
Another little snippet for whoever runs this site….this estate as you mention, is owned by an american billionaire…by a coincidence so does the estate where Skibo’s present head keeper worked previously….
But dont let anyone tell you thats the reason for this poisoning – it takes place on all types of estate – traditional family run or absentee landlord…its carried out by all types from the under keepers unpaid helper right up to, on a few occasions, the owners themselves.
I hope that this becomes a very big story…but at the moment our politicians can largely ignore this sort of thing while they faff about forming governments….
Lets make these victims count!
It is really sad that stuff like this still happens. I hope they find the ones who did this. I also reported about it on my website and put a link to your blog. Thanks for bringing this to our attention and to inform the wider public.
Everywhere in Europe raptors get killed. In Germany where I live they kill Common Buzzards, Red Kites, Peregrines and White-tailed Eagles, in Austria it’s White-tailed Eagles and Eastern Imperial Eagles and in any other country raptors get poisoned, too. This sucks!
Markus
If the guilty is not given a custodial sentence for these offences, then I think it will be clear that the government/courts do not take these vile crimes seriously at all. If poisoning three golden eagles is not considered worthy of a prison sentence then I don’t know what the bloody hell is. I am sick of hearing all the platitudes – what we want to see is ACTION.
We are watching.
Keep up the good work on this blog.
Paul G