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Thursday, May 07, 2009
Utter devastation
By Mary Murphy
THE poisoning of two more rare white-tailed sea eagles, whose remains were found close to Waterville last Thursday, has put the future of the high-profile reintroduction project in jeopardy.
And concerns were raised on Monday that another bird, who has been missing for some time, could also be dead.
The latest discovery of the two young eagles brings to seven the number of confirmed poisonings but project manager, Dr Allan Mee, believes it is now likely that an eighth bird has also died as a result of either shooting or poisoning.
"There are seven that we know of but I believe an eighth bird might have died as well," he told The Kingdom.
"In November last year we recovered a transmitter in a stream near Kilgarvan and that bird has not been seen since. It seems likely that it was either poisoned or shot and the transmitter was removed and thrown into the stream," he added.
The latest poisoned eagles were discovered just 2.5km apart, close to Lough Currane near Waterville.
The birds – one male, one female – had been released in 2008 and were less than a year old. Both had made their home in the South Kerry area for some time and were a regular sight in the skies of the popular fishing location.
The bodies of the two young birds are currently undergoing post mortem tests but Dr Mee believes they were killed by a slow-acting poison.
"Time will tell what killed them but it may have been that they were both in poor condition because a slow poison debilitated them.
The carcass of a dead animal was found 30 yards away from the female and material was obtained for testing but Dr Mee believes it is unlikely to have been the source of the poisoning.
The whole future of the eagle reintroduction project has now been brought into question and a full review of the programme has been ordered.
"We cannot go on losing birds at this rate. If some were dying as a result of natural causes it would not be nearly so critical but all our birds have died from poisoning," Dr Mee told The Kingdom.
"There is utter devastation – it is so very depressing," he added.
"We recovered the bodies just a week after the latest media coverage of the cause of the death of the last eagle. At this stage everyone knows the danger of poisoning. These people knew the birds were in the area and still they died," the project co-ordinator complained.
"You have to think that the person responsible either doesn’t give a damn or that someone out there is actually targeting the birds," he added.
Dr Mee accepted that there was what he described as a "fair bit of negativity" when the two eagles initially arrived in Waterville.
"A lot of farmers in the area were worried. They had obviously heard all the hysteria two years ago before the project started.
"But after talking to people it seemed they were willing to accept the birds and give them a chance. I got several phone calls from people reporting sighting and the fishermen on Lough Currane were every excited to see them in particular," he added.
Dr Mee said the poisonings of the eagles highlights the danger posed to other wildlife as well.
"The area around Lough Currane is a Special Area of Conservation and farmers are receiving both REPS payments and single farm payments. They should realise that these payments come with strict stipulations and regulations to protect wildlife including the eagles," he stated.
"It’s a complete paradox that birds are being poisoned in an area where payments are being made to conserve the environment – it’s just not acceptable," he claimed.
Meanwhile, South Kerry TD, Jackie Healy-Rae, said farmers have a duty to protect their lambs who might be in danger and he suggested that any poison that might have been laid was meant for foxes which are known to be roaming the Kerry countryside.
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