Irish police, in conjunction with the National Parks & Wildlife Service (NPWS) are appealing for information following the discovery of two dead adult peregrines found on their nest ledge in Co Louth in the Irish Republic.
Staff from the NPWS recovered the two dead peregrines, along with three eggs, from a remote nest site in the Cooley Mountains.
The Department of Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht said the adult falcons were killed while trying to incubate their eggs and that ‘forensic and other evidence was being gathered in the expectation that a successful prosecution will take place’.
‘In the expectation that a successful prosecution will take place‘? That’s a strange and optimistic claim but perhaps they already know more than they’re letting on – the cause of death, if it’s been established, has not been revealed in any media reports about this case.
Anyone with information can contact gardaí (police) in Dundalk on 042-9388400 or the local conservation ranger on 076-1002637.
The appeal for information appeared in the Irish Times on Wednesday 8 August 2018 (see here)
Raptor Persecution UK 
This is terribly sad and the images of this family dead simply brings the callous murder of these iconic raptors sharply into focus. About time a ‘gamekeeper’ and landowner were jailed for this systematic persecution.
[Ed: comment deleted as racist]
Thankyou RPUK for highlighting raptor persecution here in ROI as well as in the UK. Raptors get a bad time here as well, particularly from pigeon men, and we don’t have anywhere as many concerned folk as in Britain to get angry about it.
It will be interesting to hear the outcome of this. I’m not sure there have been many prosecutions in Ireland for raptor crime – do you know of any?
Here’s one we know of:
https://raptorpersecutionscotland.wordpress.com/2016/04/10/pigeon-racing-men-convicted-of-poisoning-peregrines-sparrowhawks/