THE GOLDEN Eagle Trust will lodge an official complaint with the European Commission over the continuing poisoning of birds of prey following confirmation of two more poisoning deaths of a white-tailed eagle and a red kite.
It said the white-tailed eagle found dead on March 12th near Lough Lein, Killarney, was poisoned with carbofuran. A red kite found near Tiglin, Co Wicklow, on March 16th had died of alphachloralose poisoning.
These two deaths follow the finding of a golden eagle poisoned by paraquat in Co Donegal on February 19th, 2009.
“The fact that three separate poisons were used to kill three different species, found in three different counties, shows the full extent of the threat that poisons pose to Irish birds of prey. Clearly the unlawful use of poisoned meat baits is, unfortunately, still a countrywide practice,” the trust said.
“The poisoned bird in Kerry is the fifth white-tailed eagle, from the batch of 15 birds released in Killarney National Park in August 2007, to have been poisoned. The white-tailed eagle that was killed was well travelled and was regarded as a flagship bird of the project,” it added.
The trust and BirdWatch Ireland called for an urgent review of the laws covering the supply, storage, use and misuse of poisons and the enforcement of these laws and regulations.
Recent changes in legislation by the Department of the Environment prohibited the use of meat baits in the control of birds, but the Department of Agriculture’s Protection of Animals (Amendment) Act 1965 still allowed, in restricted circumstances, the use of poison baits to control foxes.
“This legislation has now been proven to be clearly in breach of article 4 and article 9 of the EU birds directive . . . The Golden Eagle Trust will be lodging an official complaint with the EU Commission in this regard within the coming weeks,” said the trust.
Both organisations acknowledged the support of the vast majority of landowners, farmers, gun clubs and hillwalkers and said the reckless poisoning was an “outdated and selfish habit”.
A spokesman said one individual was understood to be responsible for the poisoning of three of the five poisoned birds in Killarney National Park.
There had been strong farmer opposition to the sea eagle project initially, particularly among sheep farmers in Kerry, but, according to the trust, this has eased.
In response to the news that poisoning was again the cause of death of this latest eagle, chairman of the Irish Farmers’ Association in Kerry James McCarthy said his organisation was calling on farmers to be “more careful and mindful of the presence of the eagle”. He said the IFA in Kerry endorsed a leaflet to be distributed to farmers by the Golden Eagle Trust on the use of meat bait.
“The sad thing is that none of this needs to happen. Landowners and eagles should be able to co-exist in Kerry just as they do in Norway where white-tailed eagles nest next to farms,” said Dr Allan Mee, the scientist in charge of the Kerry project.
“Something has to be done about the poisoning situation or more eagles will die. It is a national disgrace that we continue to mindlessly wipe out wildlife by using poisons,” he said. “If these poisonings persist, they will continue to blight the country’s reputation and potentially scupper attempts to restore some precious parts of Ireland’s heritage.”