ANOTHER WHITE-TAILED eagle has been poisoned in Kerry leaving only 12 of the birds introduced into the wild last August surviving.
The bird’s corpse was found on Tuesday last by radio tracking only one kilometre from where the bodies of two other birds were found last February. The dead bird had not been shot and its body was in good condition. Initial examination found that it had eaten immediately before it died.
Wildlife rangers suspected the bird had been poisoned and its body was sent for postmortem. Tests at the Department of Agriculture’s Regional Veterinary Laboratory in Cork and the State Lab, Celbridge, revealed concentrations of alphachlorolose and nitroxynil (brand name Trodax).
These were the same poisons found in the two eagles which were killed in February, suggesting that a similar source may have been responsible for the deaths of all three birds.
Minister for the Environment John Gormley expressed his concern that another bird had been found dead in Kerry. The local farming community, landowners and members of the public had been extremely supportive of the project he said. “It is very upsetting for all involved to see another eagle dead as a result of someone’s negligence.”
He said the eagles are protected under legislation and that the National Parks and Wildlife Service and gardaí are investigating.
The carcass of the healthy eagle was found in a remote sheep farming area, west of Macgillycuddy’s Reeks, Dr Allan Mee, manager of the reintroduction project confirmed. He was unsure whether someone deliberately laid out poison for eagles, or whether people were targeting foxes or crows. “What is most disheartening is that though the birds have wandered from [Kerry] to Waterford and Derry we have lost three birds on the same hillside in Kerry. The birds were drawn into this area by a number of sheep carcasses left on the hill, contrary to the regulations,” he said.