Press release from PSNI (17th May 2023)
POLICE IN BALLYMENA APPEAL FOR INFORMATION FOLLOWING DISCOVERY OF TWO WHITE-TAILED EAGLES
Police are investigating the circumstances following the discovery of two dead white-tailed eagles, in the Glenhead Road area of Ballymena on Monday, 15th May.
Police Service of Northern Ireland Lead for Rural and Wildlife Crime, Superintendent McDowell said: “A report was made to police shortly before 2pm on Monday , after the discovery of two white-tailed eagles found beside one another.
“The birds had no obvious signs of injury and suspicions have been raised given the unlikely position where they were found.
“An investigation has now commenced, with a post-mortem examination due to be carried out to determine the cause of death“.
The white-tailed eagle is the UK’s largest native bird of prey, with a vast wing span of up to 2.5 metres, and are an incredibly beautiful species, which makes the discovery of these dead birds very distressing.
In particular, we are aware one of the birds was born in Norway and brought as a chick to be released in the lower Shannon estuary in 2022.
Following the launch of Op Subrision last week, our dedicated policing operation to combat rural and wildlife crime, we want the public to be reassured, we take all wildlife crime extremely seriously and are committed to investigating all instances of wildlife crime which are reported to police.
If you have any information that can help with our investigation, please contact police on the non-emergency number 101 and quote 1906 16/05/23.
Alternatively, you can submit a report online using the non-emergency reporting form via http://www.psni.police.uk/makeareport/ .
You can also contact Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111 or online.
ENDS
The Northern Ireland Raptor Study Group has also issued a press release, as follows:
YOUNG WHITE-TAILED EAGLES FOUND DEAD IN COUNTRY ANTRIM
Two White-tailed eagles have been found dead lying side by side in the Glenwherry area of Co. Antrim on Monday the 15th of May 2023. Both birds were immature eagles, not yet of breeding age. One of them was a bird released in the Lower Shannon Estuary in August 2022 by National Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS) as part of the reintroduction programme, having been collected from Norway during 2022. The second bird was an unmarked immature bird of unknown origin, likely from Scotland or Ireland. They were found only a few metres apart and appeared to have died in recent days.
Once relatively common on many mountainous and coastal areas White-tailed eagles were celebrated and revered for centuries. However attitudes towards birds of prey changed from admiration to hatred and intolerance by the 17th century and systematic killing, along with widespread habitat change, led to the extinction of White-tailed eagles from the island of Ireland in 1912. Thanks to reintroduction efforts the first successful breeding White-tailed eagles in over 100 years produced a single chick in 2013. These eagles take 4-5 years to reach maturity and typically only produce 1-2 chicks per year. This means that the population remains extremely vulnerable. The loss of these two young birds is a real blow to the recovery of the population in the UK and Ireland.
Birds of prey, which are essential in balancing a healthy ecosystem, continue to be been illegally targeted to such an extent some areas are at risk of losing their natural top predators again. Some of the toxins used to poison birds of prey are banned substances and are extremely dangerous, not only to wildlife but also livestock, pets and people.
Dr Eimear Rooney of the Northern Ireland Raptor Study Group (NIRSG) stated:
“Finding such magnificent birds dead is just heart-breaking and we sincerely hope that they are not poisoned or illegally killed although the circumstances of finding two birds dead beside each other is highly irregular and suspicious and they have been collected by the PSNI for post-mortem to establish the cause of death”.
Eimear continued: “I would like to commend the PSNI on their rapid response and recovery of the two birds for testing. The reality is that often these birds are found in remote areas and we rely on information from the public and landowners to understand the circumstances which led to the death of these birds.”
If any member of the public has any suspicions, information, photographs or dash cam footage or knows of illegal or unusual activity or people in the Glenwherry region, (including Starbog Road, Shillanavogy Road, Glenhead Road, Drumcrow Road, or Glenview Road), please report these to the PSNI on 101 or online https://www.psni.police.uk/report, or anonymously to Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111. Please refer to the crime reference number 1096 of the 15-5-23.
Any photographs of these birds would also be very helpful to help establish their whereabouts over recent days and these can be sent to NIRSG here.
ENDS
Glenwherry. Hmm. Let’s wait for the post mortem results…
UPDATE 7th July 2023: Police confirm 2 x white-tailed eagles found dead on a grouse moor in Northern Ireland were illegally poisoned (here)
Raptor Persecution UK 
……how heartbreaking for everybody concerned! Let’s hope that some information from the public is forthcoming…..or there is a reason found that both have died so near to each other! Terrible
This will only stop once all darn grouse moors gave been closed down and the grouse removed completely unfortunately there are some very very twisted gamekeepers land owners a d farmers all over the UK . Sick sad demented people that will kill anything forbthe hell of it because the penalties are just a joke for these offences they need to hurt big time .
“and the grouse removed completely…”
Red Grouse are a native species.
So you would wipe out an indigenous species that has been regenerated in this area by a lot of hard work and private investment (not public funds), your solution does not seem very ethical or high on the conservation list
I totally agree with you.
Money is at the root of most evil especially the ignorant and greedy.
Penalties, the wildlife laws are a joke which are laughed at by the cruel and greedy.
I think you need to establish some facts. Are you also proposing we kill every grouse?
Why would you remove all the Grouse, they are true wild birds to?
But we don’t know how they died yet? Instead of jumping to conclusions why not wait for the results of the autopsy?
Well said!
Well if it was purposely caused by a Human being I hope you catch the bloody wankers.. I wonder if they were in a locked claw fight and spiraled down and hit the ground… Good luck!!
How sad to find such magnificent birds dead. Most of us will never have the chance to see such majestic avians flying wild in life.
As a young man I was lucky enough to rescue a kestrel from a pet shop and go on to train her in falconry; before setting her free one fine May morning to be where she belonged.
More SEVERE PENALTIES to those that destroy our raptors is the only deterrent for these bastards.
I was wondering the exact same thing. Seem peregrine’s do it with one ending up in the sea. Didn’t know peregrine’s could swim until that day.
Why do people destroy animals fuming just not right to do this to any animal
“and the Grouse removed completely”, I don’t think you mean that PeterN??
There are always a few who have a distructive nature to our beautiful wild life, and how do we find the answer to stop it happening. I don’t believe we can stop those few Wicked People who want to Punnish our wild life for thier satisfaction of lust to kill maim beautiful living life. Let’s all hope these few will change their Wicked cruelty.
It’s just so useless life two birds lost for whot’ but those whot did the deed will not unlikely get away with it and that’s wrong
How tragic, someone has done this deliberately. Here in Australia the glossy black cockatoo is soon to be listed endangered. Year after year there will be fewer and fewer animals to admire. What a terrible shame.
Absolutely. Are they being hunted?
This is absolutely heart breaking. I really do hope someone is prosecuted for this and educated from how much hard work had been put into place, to bring these beautiful creatures back into our lives. It’s such an ignorant attack on such a beautiful creature!
Shocking to see how people can be so wicked
Eagles free fall together whilst mating, if they take even a second too long they hit the ground and die. It could be a possibility that it was a failed mating attempt
I’d say it’s all the pollution these chemtrails are pumping out in the sky’s. They are full of deadly toxins
They were both male eagle’s! So I’d say a failed mating attempt would have been sussed out between them rather quickly! Lol
No they mate in February and March and were too young to mate anyway.
They were both male eagle’s! So I’d say a failed mating attempt would have been sussed out between them rather quickly! Lol
It’s a shame these post-mortems take so long. Not commenting directly on this case, but wouldn’t it be great if there was a quick, cheap “indicative” overnight test that could be done for poison while waiting for full post-mortem? Then the police could potentially get a warrant and search for evidence straightaway, before anybody (perhaps even the perpetrator) was we wise to the fact that the shit was about to hit the fan and go about disposing of the evidence i.e. getting rid of little bottles & granules in sachets that may still be in the back sheds.
I have lived in Africa most of my life and poaching, trapping and poisoning are common. These things are done for money, food or plain selfishness as in the case of these exquisite birds. The culprits are no doubt local sheep herders wanting to stop the birds from taking their lambs. Does mankind have to destroy the earth in his quest for money. They should protect their lambs and keep them under cover. They must pay a heavy penalty for this.
A quick search (because I do not know Northern Ireland) reveals something about the background area of this incident:
“Glenwherry hill farm is set in the heart of the glens of Antrim between Ballymena and Larne.
It is is run by the Irish Grouse conservation trust. (IGCT)
We currently don’t sell days for grouse but we do however have between 4/5 days driven woodcock each year.”
And this, from the BBC in 2011:
“The red grouse, one of Northern Ireland’s rarest game birds, has been saved from dying out in a remote upland area of County Antrim.
Down to just six pairs, a grouse regeneration project at the *Department of Agriculture’s Glenwherry farm* has involved culling hundreds of foxes and crows, as well as regenerating the heather grazing.
Grouse shooting is a lucrative business in Scotland where a single day on the moor can cost hundreds of pounds, but while the Scottish economy is raking in millions, in Northern Ireland grouse numbers have been in decline…
In a little over three years the head game-keeper shot 300 foxes…
Crows and magpies, too, pose a threat to grouse nests and so hundreds of these predators have also been killed…
The next stage of the regeneration project involved improving the food supply for the young grouse.
Heather burning is the answer. But it’s not simply a case of setting the moor alight…
The idea is to produce a mosaic of heather plants at different stages of regeneration…
Medicated grit is left out for the birds to peck.
The grit helps the grouse grind up the heather shoots in their gizzards while the medication helps them deal with the worms
It is still too early to say if the moor will ultimately sustain a commercial shoot, but the early signs are encouraging for the grouse population.”
Glenwherry Hill Farm was purchased by Northern Ireland’s Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs (DAERA) in 1963, and the Hill Farm Centre is run by the College of Agriculture, Food and Rural Enterprise (CAFRE) with support from the British Association for Shooting and Conservation (BASC).
In the Introduction to Gamekeeping course (at CAFRE) an ex-student says “I have had a life-long passion for field sports… every day is a school day…”
And another says “I highly recommend this course to anyone who has an interest in gamekeeping or country sports…. you expand your knowledge in all areas of gamekeeping… to practical predator control…”
If – and we do not know yet – these White-tailed eagles were found on DAERA/CAFRE land, that might prove to be rather embarrassing. But the “Glenhead Road area of Ballymena” runs – cough – right next to CAFRE Hill Farm (according to Google maps).
If – and we do not know yet – foul play was involved, can we expect the PSNI to be investigating DAERA/CAFRE?
I have witnessed some of the cruelty given out by keepers, and was shocked by some of what I saw, let’s hope the deaths where from mating and not poison but these days nothing shocked me anymore.
Why don’t people wait for the post-mortem before ranting about gamekeepers, if it turns out to be natural causes I wonder how many will be posting anything about it, very few..
Agreed.
But how would you rate the odds of two individuals conveniently expiring, of natural causes, just metres from one another?
I think because the “form book” gives people confidence in “picking a winner” in their selection. If William Hill ran a book on it, I wonder what odds they would offer? 16 to 1 against natural causes would be my guess. This has all the hallmarks of death at the hand of man, in one way or another. That said, it is conceivably not the case. For me personally, if it turns out to be natural causes I would actually be relieved that we don’t have yet another region of the British Isles that is turning into a confirmed death zone for large raptors.
It’s extremely unlikely to be natural causes with two birds right beside each other.
“very few…” maybe or maybe not, we will never know, because it wasn’t natural causes, they were poisoned. On my first reply to you I mooted a lowly 16 to 1 against natural causes. So what macabre odds should I chalk up now for any future pre post-mortem raptor corpse(s) that may turn up in that area?
Lets see the post mortem before you start blaming grouse moors and the Keepers up there who are totally involved in conservation of the area and working with th RSPB on the Curlew scheme,
Totally agree people are far too quick to place the blame on Game Keepers for the loss of these birds…..let’s find out how they died first.
“Totally agree people are far too quick to place the blame on Game Keepers..”
The post mortem proves they were illegally poisoned. What do you say about game keepers now?
“the Keepers up there who are totally involved in conservation”
Really? They’re not involved with trying to establish a grouse shooting business, then?
Let’s not let any facts hinder the persecution of the rural communities. That would just be disastrous for the agenda!
Let’s not play the victim. Or indulge in the pretence that gamekeepers and their allies are in any way representative of “rural communities”.
“Let’s not let any facts hinder the persecution of the rural communities.”
The facts prove they were both illegally poisoned. What do you say about rural communities now?
“Lets see the post mortem before you start blaming grouse moors… ”
The post mortem proves they were both illegally poisoned… What do you say about grouse moors and game keepers now?
One was a 2022 born bird .
Eagles have a 90% death rate in their first year. Either by starvation or accident.
The postmortem results will be interesting.
“The postmortem results will be interesting.”
The post mortems proved they were both illegally poisoned. Is that ‘interesting’ enough for you?
As much a shame as this is, these acts of barbarity and murder towards beautiful wildlife are perpetuated and allowed in society due to the objectification of sentient beings through how we treat animals and how we refer to them.
There will be non-vegans who view this with ire as they chow into a bacon sandwich or eat egg or fish, etc.
To change how we treat animals is to change how we view them: not as food but as individuals deserving of the ability to live and being free from objectified language and commodification.
As humans are omnivorous, we have always had meat in our diets. As much as some may hate it, certain animals are food and it’s an individual choice whether to eat them or not. Trying to vilify or guilt trip meat eaters is just a lazy, ignorant tactic. I would however, like to see a scheme whereby young people are educated on meat (farmed and wild/game) and how it ends up on our table!
You’ve reiterated the same rhetoric the meat industry promotes.
My questions now are of the following: where does the animal have individual choice? Are you now willing to participate in speciesism to justify your position?
We have not always been omnivores, you’ve failed basic biology.
Just because we’ve always done something, does it make it justified? I.e., slavery, cannibalism? Surely one has personal choice whether to eat a human or enslave them? Or are you resorting to human supremacist fallacies?
As an ex-farm lad who grew up rearing sheep and ostrich in South Africa, it doesn’t matter how something is reared as it is killed the same way. We used to shoot baboons and, my father in the day, used to even shoot exotic wildlife on the daily. What is so different about killing eagles and exotic wildlife to killing non-natural sentient beings who feel as much as they do?
Trying to justify traditions is ignorant as you focus on yourself in this subject as the dominant figure without thinking if implications, Nigel.
And to state certain animals are food and some aren’t, is to select who dies and who doesn’t. The last time we discriminated who did and did not deserve to die, my great great grandparents were caught up in the holocaust.
Nigel, you are ignorant to the connotations your logic has. It opens the gateway for discrimination and justified killing of these animals.
To state a fact, if you feel upset about being a hypocrite then it is not a change about education for the youth that is needed. What becomes necessary is for you to take a moral and ethical stance of whether you permit indiscriminate killing of animals or not.
Someone may eat those eagles, who knows. The issue is that to eat meat and condemn killing animals and to love them, is akin to loving literature and burning books: the two are morally at odds, Nigel.
Your questions shouldn’t seek to blur the lines of where your fault is at, or to discuss whether something is sentient (if you really wish to ignore the science) but to ask whether it has a capacity to feel pain, and in their capacity to suffer, a dog is a pig is a bear, is a boy.
Hopefully that clears up your ignorant viewpoint, Nigel.
A bit better put than you’re original comment.
Yes I agree we are in command of which animals live or die, that is just part of being an apex predator. Humans have eaten meat since they had the ability to catch and kill it.
The selection of “some animals” differs from culture to culture.
The human life is a different discussion.
How animals live does matter to me, we are all going to die but that doesn’t mean we should live in misery.
Just to clarify you’re moral standing, would you starve if it saved another animal and if so would you let your family starve?
None of this relates to the dead eagles BTW, cause of death is yet to be established, I would never condone hurting them unless life depended on it.
Hi Nigel,
You’ve managed to avoid answering my questions, and now it’s the usual smattering of the usual excuses I’ve seen before.
1. We are not Apex Predators in any regard, and to make such a statement is arrogant and ignorant of where you stand. If you were truly an apex predator/hunter, I’d be might impressed if you could catch and eat an animal like a squirrel with nothing but your teeth, and eat all of it raw – eyes, organs, brain, tongue, backside, tail, legs, everything.
To use this to justify choosing which dies and which doesn’t, surely if you are as intelligent as you believe, it is better morally and ethically not to kill or eat any animal when in our modern civilisations we have the ability to get healthier and eat better without all the carcinogenically rich additions through plants? You realise that eating vegan is just cutting out the animal being born into a life of horror with the sole purpose of dying a horrible death, and just going straight to the plant matter.
See, the issue is this goes two ways: you are either aware of the benefits and see what you perpetuate, or you continue to ignore the science and facts and contribute to unnecessary suffering and become a hypocrite if you condemn animal suffering while paying for it.
2. Humans have had the ability to catch and kill since before they ate meat, that is also no justification. Humans did this as vegetation became scarce and was taken by better adapted wildlife.
3. So who should be living in misery? Your logic seems to state that suffering is welcome as long as you don’t feel it and are happy. That logic would again make slavery perfectly acceptable, and again make concepts of suffering for people desirable if at least someone is not in misery.
I don’t see myself on a desert island or in any survival situation as I’m living in civilisation where we have shops and stores.
My moral standpoint is only if I were in a survival situation I.e., no civilisation or hopes of being rescued anytime soon from an isolated environment from civilisation (really boring argument but you asked for hypothetical theoretical situations, so be it).
In your imaginary world, we apparently have nothing like stores or outlets and no plant-based alternatives.
As shown above, you are trying to justify a holocaust of sentient beings because of what? Power? That’s supremacists mindsets, so surely you support any form of supremacist movements if they have the power to do so?
If you read back on your logic, you will see how flawed, hypocritical, and frankly insane your points are. If those arguments were used to justify any form of civil rights abuse for humans, you’d be outraged.
I look forward to you answering my questions, Nigel.
“We are not Apex Predators in any regard”
What a ludicrous statement!