A CONTROVERSIAL project to reintroduce eagles to Killarney National Park is continuing, despite the illegal poisoning of some of the birds.
Nine white-tailed sea eaglets were yesterday released in the park and a further 13 will be let go next week from hillside cages overlooking the world-famous lakes of Killarney.
So far, 64 white-tailed eagles have been released in Killarney, 14 of which have died including seven from poisoning.
This year, 11 protected birds of prey, including three kites, three white-tailed eagles, a golden eagle, three buzzards and a peregrine falcon, have been confirmed poisoned in the Republic.
The three white-tailed eagles were poisoned in a four-week period in the Beaufort area, near Killarney.
Dr Allan Mee, of the Golden Eagle Trust and director of the Killarney project, said it was likely all three had fed on the same poisoned sheep carcass. However, he is still hopeful, he said, that the project will be successful.
There has been strong farmer opposition to the project, amid fears eagles would kill lambs and that stricter regulations would be imposed on farming practices.
Farmers are liable to have their EU payments reduced if they are found to have killed protected wild birds such as eagles and red kites.
Dr Mee said there was also a huge amount of support for the project and felt what happened in Beaufort was most likely a single incident. Following a recent meeting with the Irish Farmers Association, the Irish Creamery Milk Suppliers Association, Teagasc and other interests, he hoped the situation would improve. “We must turn things around before next year’s lambing season.”
Farm organisations have strongly rebutted suggestions the eagles were deliberately poisoned. Farmer representatives say the poisonings were accidental, with the birds consuming substances which are normally put out for foxes, crows and other predators of lambs.
Gardaí and the Department of Agriculture are investigating the poisonings and nobody has been prosecuted.
The latest 22 birds – 16 males and six females – have again been donated by the Norwegian wildlife authorities. Three of the birds have satellite tags which enable their movements to be tracked.
Some of the previously released birds have been traced to parts of Co Antrim, Lough Neagh and the Orkney Islands, in Scotland.