A WILDLIFE expert has called for major changes in the laws governing access to poisons following the deaths of another two white-tailed eagles near Waterville on the Iveragh Peninsula in Co Kerry.
Dr Alan Mee said a question mark now hung over the continuation of the programme to reintroduce a viable breeding population of the bird of prey to southwest Ireland. In all, seven of the 35 birds released into the wild over the past two years have been poisoned.
“The poisons that are being used are banned in other EU countries. In the UK it would be a case of illegal poisoning,” said Dr Mee, manager of the breeding project.
“We have lost 20 per cent of the birds to one cause alone. That casts a doubt over future releases.”
Dr Mee argued that the purchase of poisons and other toxic substances should be licensed.
The first indication the two birds perished came on Thursday evening when the signals coming from radio transmitters attached to the birds showed they were not moving.
The first dead eagle was found near Waterville at about 4.30pm. The second was found at 6.30pm, about two kilometres away.
“We suspect that both were poisoned as they died at around the same time,” said Dr Mee. “One of the birds was about 30 metres away from an old sheep carcass.”
The project is awaiting the results of postmortem examinations to determine the exact cause of the deaths. So far four different poisons have been found in dead eagles, including paraquat and nitroxinil.
“In general people are using stuff that is not meant to be used for poison and buying poisons off the shelf that should be used to treat liver fluke or as a weedkiller.
“It does not have any traceability. Nobody knows who is using them,” said Dr Mee.
The white-tailed eagle project, based on the Iveragh Peninsula, is the second such programme in Ireland, following a successful project to reintroduce the golden eagle in Donegal.
The first 15 white-tailed eagles were released in 2007 with a further 20 released last year.
According to Dr Mee, one of the birds has made it as far as Glengarry near the Isle of Skye in Scotland. Another pair, being tracked by satellite, have settled on the Inishowen Peninsula in Co Donegal.
Farmers have laced the bodies of carcasses in the past to kill foxes and crows and other scavengers. However, Dr Mee says that the possibility that the eagles are being targeted deliberately cannot be ruled out.
He also said that poisoning was a very poor method of fox control as it was indiscriminate and killed all kinds of wildlife including badgers and pine martens, as well as the eagles. Most of the poisons that have been identified are either heavily restricted or banned in other countries.
The white-tailed eagles introduced to Ireland have come from Norway. Dr Mee said a review would take place before any further eagles were released into the wild.
Another white-tailed eagle was found dead on March 12th near Lough Lein, Killarney. It had also been poisoned.
A golden eagle was found poisoned by paraquat in Co Donegal on February 19th this year. The death of a red kite near Tiglin, Co Wicklow, on March 16th, was due to alphachloralose poisoning.
It is now likely that the Golden Eagle Trust, which oversees the reintroduction programmes, will lodge an official complaint with the European Commission over the continuing use of poisons.
The Department of the Environment has introduced legislation to ban the use of meat baits in the control of birds. However, the Department of Agriculture’s Protection of Animals (Amendment) Act 1965 still provides for use of poison baits to control foxes.