The Press and Journal is reporting the following story:
Another dead golden eagle: poisoning suspected.
Poison fears after golden eagle found dead in prime island habitat.
Police are investigating another suspicious golden eagle death- this time in one of the heartlands of the species.
The bird of prey was found at Loch Langabhat on Harris at the end of last month. Scotland’s first year round observatory to allow the public to view golden eagles opened on the island earlier this year.
It is understood that the creature was found by rangers working for the North Harris Trust, which runs the observatory.
The area has one of the highest breeding concentrations of the bird in Europe. About 20 pairs of golden eagles are resident on the island.
A police spokesman said: “We are investigating the death of a golden eagle. Its carcase has been sent for analysis to see if it had been poisoned.”
The same day as the Harris eagle was found, tests confirmed that a golden eagle found dead near Morar in Lochaber had been poisoned.
The Royal Society for the Protection of Birds Scotland said it was the third known poisoning incident in the area in 10 years. Two white tailed sea eagles were previously found poisoned.
The latest death in Lochaber was discovered in March and the results of a post mortem examination have now been released. They show banned pesticides were used.
So, if this latest dead golden eagle is found to have been poisoned, it will be the third illegally-killed golden eagle reported in the last three weeks. The first one was the incident we reported on 18 June in the Tayside/Grampian region (see here), which, incidentally, still has not been the subject of a formal press release by either the police or the RSPB. The second one was reported by the RSPB and the police on 28 June and related to a poisoned golden eagle found dead in Lochaber three months earlier (see here) [This is the eagle pictured above].
It seems that ‘someone’ has leaked the story of the Harris dead eagle to the Press and Journal as there doesn’t appear to be any formal press release on any of the other news sites or the Northern Constabulary website. Well done to whoever alerted the P&J. We’ll await the SASA lab tests with interest. It’s quite possible of course that this eagle hasn’t been poisoned, although pesticide-poisoned birds generally exhibit diagnostic signs (like clenched feet and dead insects on the body) – signs with which investigators will be very familiar.
North Harris Eagle Observatory webpage here
Raptor Persecution UK 
All these magnificent birds that Scotland is famous for being sacrificed just to enable a few blood thirsty types to slaughter another species. As the shooting industry is anable or unwilling to regulate itself, maybe the time is coming for them to go the same way as Fox hunting! Then the land could re-generate itself and we wouldn’t have to put up with the ugly consequence of heather burning.
Chris, I suspect it is just as likely & more probable, that a Sheep Farmer is responsible for this poisoning. Either way though, it comes back to the landowner & they should be prosecuted with the full rigor of the law.
If not, they will simply continue to turn a blind eye to any & all wildlife crimes, which are being committed on their property.
Surely silly little fines do not send the right message either?
I believe that only a custodial sentence will make the errand landowners truly see the error of their ways & ensure that in future, they insist that no wildlife crimes are committed in their name, on their properties.
Yes both Lewis and Morar are pretty much exclusively sheep areas – these incidents are occurring in areas with high eagle densities showing that they are relatively rare events. By contrast the routine, “professional” killing of protected predators which occurs on managed grouse moors leads to very low eagle densities…as shown up in the several eagle cenususses and species framework studies over the last three decades.
Information gathered by Onekind suggests how some estate owners may try to avoid vicarious liability in the future by sending their game keepers on all the trapping and best practice courses there are going. According to our intelligence, top lawyers are being hired to travel around the country lecturing to gamekeepers on the law related to wildlife crime. Our information suggests that the idea behind this action, being taken by landowners and worked on by these top Lawyers, is that if a wildlife crime were to occur on their land by one of their keepers then the landowner can say that he put his keeper through the relevant courses and that he doesn’t know why the keeper did what he did. They hope that this will be enough to persuade the court that they were not complicit with the crime carried out on their land. Further information we have acquired tells us that a well-known land owner has been urging other landowners to take this idea on and which will probably be up and running properly within the next few months.
If its been killed because of a “sheep” issue then the agricultural support should be withdrawn (in addition to any wildlife crime prosecution).
The NFUS and the “Scottish Farmer” has provided a vehicle for whipping up the unjustified anti-eagle atmosphere and both have a share in the culpability.