In May this year, the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) appealed for information after the discovery of two dead white-tailed eagles found next to one another in suspicious circumstances on moorland in Ballymena, County Antrim (see here).
The corpses were sent for post mortem and toxicology results have now confirmed they were both poisoned by Bendiocarb.
The PSNI has issued the following statement this afternoon:
POLICE INVESTIGATE POISONING OF TWO WHITE-TAILED EAGLES
Police are appealing for information from the public, after the confirmed poisoning of two white-tailed eagles.
Police investigating the circumstances following the discovery of two dead white-tailed eagles, in the Glenhead Road area of Ballymena on Monday, 15th May, can confirm the birds were subsequently poisoned.
Following a post-mortem examination, both birds tested positive for the insecticide bendiocarb.
How the birds came into contact with the insecticide remains part of an ongoing investigation, and the Police Service of Northern Ireland is committed to working with partners and members of the public to determine how the birds consumed the toxic insecticide.
Rural and Wildlife Crime Superintendent Johnston McDowell said: “Sadly, police can confirm the two majestic birds found on land in the Glenhead Road area were poisoned, following a post-mortem examination.
“The test results suggest that an individual not only has access to the insecticide bendiocarb but has placed this into the outside environment illegally, so that wild birds have been able to consume it.
“Bendiocarb is present in the trade product Ficam D, a powder which is only permitted for indoor use to control crawling insects such as wasps and ants, so using this active ingredient in fields would be a breach of Biocidal Products Regulation (BPR).
“The illegal killing of these beautiful birds in a popular rural area is disgraceful, and for any individual to think that they can ignore the law and lay poisonous bait which has led to the killing of these birds, is unacceptable and will not be tolerated.
“Officers with support from the National Wildlife Crime Unit, have been on the ground conducting house-to-house enquiries, engaging with local residents and landowners, in the areas of where the birds were gravitating towards, before they were found deceased.
“The Police Service of Northern Ireland will continue to work with our partners to tackle this criminal activity, investigate any reports made to us and prosecute offenders. In this case we have liaised with our partners in the Partnership for Action Against Wildlife Crime (PAWNI) Agri-Food and Biosciences, Royal Society for the Protection of Birds, NI Raptor Study Group, Health and Safety Executive for Northern Ireland, Northern Ireland Environment Agency and received additional support from the National Wildlife Crime Unit. Police have a strong multi-agency support group which we are very grateful for, but we need the help of the public too.
“There must be people in the community who are aware of individuals committing these offences, and who can come forward and assist police with any information they have.
“If you notice any suspicious activity in rural areas, notice a dead or injured bird of prey, please call police on 101, or alternatively you can make a report via Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111 or online at http://crimestoppers-uk.org. Alternatively, you can submit a report online using the non-emergency reporting form via http://www.psni.police.uk/makeareport/.
“We are also very grateful to our partners in the charity Royal Society for Protection of Birds (RSPB) who are offering a reward of ÂŁ5000 for information leading to the prosecution of those involved in the poisoning of the two white-tailed eagles. The charity is completely independent from the police and can be contacted on their confidential Raptor Crime Hotline on 0300 999 0101 or online at crime@rspb.org.uk.”
ENDS
I’ll have more to say about this case, not least to discuss the location where the poisoned eagles were found – the only moor that’s managed for driven grouse shooting in Northern Ireland.
More soon…
UPDATES:
Press release from Northern Ireland Raptor Study Group (here)
Press release from RSPB (here)
Poisoned eagles found on grouse moor in Northern Ireland: New petition calls for ban on the possession of dangerous pesticides (here)
UPDATE 3 March 2025: 50,000 people support the Northern Ireland Raptor Study Group’s petition to ban possession of dangerous, raptor-killing pesticides (here)
UPDATE 17 June 2025: 50,000-signature petition calling for ban on possession of poisons, handed in to Stormont, Northern Ireland (here)
Raptor Persecution UK 
The law must be made more rigourous and the penalties more severe.Grpuse moors should be closed down and the so.called sport banned.Who eats grouse????Not normal people. or pheasant, quail, hare etc.Ban the whole damn lot……AND get this done before more precious birds are reared to die horrible and painfully.
Get the former done and then rear the birds.This is ridiculous.
Absolute disgrace. The culprits xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx
This is sad and it makes me so angry that people get away with this crime every other day!,Imagine if that was 2 children there be a massive man hunt ect!!,Our wildlife is on a massive decrease because of greedy selfish people!Time to make the crime!!a prison time befor we have nothing and no wildlife to see
If I was the police, I would take the names address and bank and credit card details of all the workers and family members for grouse land, and check their purchases!
There needs to be an illegal pesticides task force set up with powers to search every farm, every shooting estate and every associated building and land for illegal pesticides and take the criminals to court.
There needs to be a ban on the online sales of these poisons: with fines for the likes of Amazon / eBay etc if they fail to comply.
If any part of it needs new legislation, so be it, but enough is far more than enough.
Bendiocarb is not an illegal insecticide, up until a couple of years ago it was licenced for outside use, but not anymore. It is very toxic and I believe is banned in the US?
Used in the correct way it is a very good product particularly for treating wasp nest!
And so hear we encounter another issue!
Bat’s! That are pretty much active at the same time as wasps!
All this info is related to why I am no longer in the pest control game!
Were they poisoned deliberately or , more likely, poisoned accidentally when eating vermin carrion that had been poisoned. The need to know which is necessary before calling for retrebution against any particular section of society don’t you think.
Bendiocarb is an insecticide.
White-tailed Eagles are not insectivorous.
You need to read the thread properly before posting daft comments, don’t you think?
FFS it just keeps getting worse. Yes ban driven grouse shooting, its an evironmental disaster in every way, destroying the moors by burning ruining the biggest carbon sinkhole, polluting the atmosphere. There is nothing good about it employ the correct people to look after the moor and stop these egotistical, backward traditionalists. Bet they use the NHS instead of traditional remedies.
There’s alot of comments here that are ridiculous. In northern ireland the red grouse is on the red list. If the Heather isn’t control properly by burning or munching the red grouse will be lost its the young shoots that come up again that feed the grouse chick’s n it’s not miles of Heather that is burned its in sections n if a grouse Moor is mange properly all aspects of wildlife flourish.
Tories looking after their own, Royal gamekeepers on the same agenda, Total ban as likely as Chaz sending back his Precious stones.
Think its obvious were the police should have hit first when conducting investigations
If any birds of prey are found dead then any shoot should be banned for that year. That’s the only way to stop it as everyone knows who laid the poison and why,but proving it is a different matter
Why do you say they these two white tail eagles were found dead on a grouse moor?? They were not !!. Yes it is very sad and disappointing these two beautiful, powerful, majestic birds got poisoned and died. But it has not been established how they got poisoned or where they picked up the poison. PLEASE STOP PRINTING NON FACTUAL STATEMENTS.
2 white tailed sea eagle bodys found side by side does nt add up, have they sourced the same poison or is rife? How long does it take for this poison to kill a bird? If it is used for killing insects why were these birds eating insects?
The fact is that they were not eating insects! I am very knowledgeable about both white tailed sea eagles and especially pesticides!!!
I am sure that most that are reading this are aware that once established 🤔 the main prey of the eagles will be Canada geese! FFS even if they did eat wasps they would have to consume god knows how many to get a lethal dose!!!
Unless I have misread something, the blog and the quote says they were found there. It doesn’t say they were poisoned there. I suppose because it is possible that they were (a) poisoned elsewhere, collected and placed on the grouse moor, (b) they consumed poison elsewhere then flew onto the grouse moor and expired together in exactly the same place. We are however all entitled to consider this incident in context, and to weigh up all of the knowledge we have from all of the other raptor poisonings and killings down the years, and form our own opinions. I have my own “working theory”, which may well change/ evolve if/as more is known. We are each entitled to form an opinion even when not every detail is known. Whether another person considers that to be hasty or not is another matter – like football pundits having differing views.
As I said in the first blog (when they were found), I would personally feel relieved if there was another more obvious explanation (such as notorious “Mad Bob” the 90yr old sheep farmer, etc) other than what it is currently pointing to, as I cannot stand the thought that yet another upland area in British Isles is on a destructive management pathway that I know very well and personally despise.
I can assure you 100% that if these birds were poisoned with bendiocarb then there cannot be any doubt whatsoever that it was deliberate!!!
Very true a man with some sense
What is wrong with people, these birds were native to our islands and are trying to be re-introduced back into their natural environment.
Not much about the shooting industry is natural, birds are imported, reared, then released to shoot. People then pay lots of money to shoot these birds, many are shot, half are then destroyed as they are not used for consumption. It is just a blood sport, like fox hunting, only purpose is money-making. It should either be regulated more or banned.