And so it continues….
Two more sea eagles have been found poisoned in Ireland, one in County Mayo and one in County Donegal. One of the birds had also been shot.
Article in Irish Examiner here
Article in Mayo Advertiser here
The Director of the Golden Eagle Trust (the group behind the reintroduction of golden eagles, white-tailed eagles and red kites to Ireland) says he fears a pair of nesting golden eagles which have ‘disappeared’ from County Donegal may also have been poisoned (see here).
Raptor Persecution UK 
No doubt that these birds accidentally ate a poisoned bait put out to control vermin and the bird that had been shot was obviously targeted by a shotgun-wielding maniacal, which just happened to be an accident as well.
None of the incidents had anything whatsoever to do with birds encroaching on game estates and the deaths had absolutely nothing to do gamekeepers in the relevent areas.
Attitudes in these isles really have to change.
There are still far too many landowners and gamekeepers living in the mindset of the 19th century. As well as Sea Eagles, in the past, they have contributed to Ospreys, Capercaillie and others becomming extinct, and also nearly wiped out Pine Martins and Wildcats. Until the courts start taking wildlife crime seriously, and start giving out appropiate sentences, I fear not much is going to change.
Quote:
“The Minister for Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht has condemned the apparent poisoning of white-tailed sea eagles in Mayo and Donegal.”
So, does that mean he’s going to do something about it, I would have to say not a chance, he’s probably just like the rest of the politicians, either in bed with the estate owners and shooting fraternity or just making sound bites knowing full well that in a few days it’ll have blown over. UNTIL THE NEXT ONE !!!
Im no expert on Donegal but Im pretty sure there arent many “shooting estates” as we know them in Scotland…or gamekeepers. They got rid of most of them post 1916…So what youve got here are sheep farmers who have for a long time been poisoning “vermin” [varmints!] – until very recently you could use alphachloralose against crows [other birds unfortunately couldnt read the warning notices].
The big questions is…are they deliberately killing eagles or are their deaths a by-product of the now illegal crow poisoning. The facty that one eagle was shot would point to deliberate killing..
How do you fix this?…Our best example is Mull where there was considerable anti-eagle sentiment [still bubbles up today..see recent news report] until the whole community got involved in anti-egger protection then viewing sites/wildlife tours/accommodation links until it would now be a very very unpopular move to kill an eagle there.
I know Lorcan and team will be working hard on that angle…I just feel very sorry for them with every report we get…and we need to remind ourselves that there are parts of our own country which are still every bit as bad – but not from sheep interests…our problems are all now purely grouse related.