A RARE white-tailed sea eagle has been found dead in Co Kerry, with experts saying it is likely the bird was poisoned.
If toxicology tests confirm that the rare bird was poisoned, wildlife groups will increase their calls for laws banning farmers from laying out poisoned meat baits.
The Department of the Environment yesterday confirmed the death of the eagle, one of 15 reintroduced into Ireland two years ago.
Minister for the Environment John Gormley had requested a report, a spokesman said.
Mr Gormley was committed to strengthening the legislation which would outlaw the laying-out of poisoned meat baits, the spokesman added.
The Minister’s intention to strengthen the legislation had been announced following the death of a golden eagle last month in Co Donegal from poisoning.
If poisoning is shown to be the cause of death, it will be the fifth eagle poisoned in Co Kerry over the past 18 months.
Most of the others died from poison about the lambing season last year.
Known by some as “the Skellig eagle”, the male bird was the star of the original introduction of 15 eagles from Norway in 2007.
Released into the wild in Killarney National Park in August of that year, it was first to sweep into the long range of the Killarney lakes and up into the Black Valley. Afterwards he was tracked to the Skelligs, off the Co Kerry coast.
It spent much of last summer around Lough Neagh, but had returned to winter in a wooded valley of the MacGillycuddy’s Reeks. The eagle was found dead on Thursday on the shores of Lough Lein, Killarney’s largest lake, near the mouth of the river Laune. The eagle was probably returning home after a fishing expedition.
Dr Allan Mee, the scientist in charge of the reintroduction project in Co Kerry, said the bird looked healthy, and he strongly suspected it had been poisoned. However, the results of a postmortem will not be known for some time. “The bird was in perfect condition,” Dr Mee said.
Five of the original 15 sea eagles have now been poisoned. Twenty eagles were brought in last year.
Just two weeks ago Dr Mee issued an appeal to farmers in Kerry and west Cork not to put out poisoned meat bait for foxes and crows in advance of the lambing season, saying the bait was “a recipe for death” for the eagle.
The white-tailed sea eagle reintroduction is a five-year project run jointly by the National Parks and Wildlife Service and the Golden Eagle Trust.
The sea eagles have flown to the North and in the past month one of the Killarney eagles has taken up residence in Scotland, at Glengarry.
However, most of the eagles live in the tree-lined valleys of the Macgillycuddy’s Reeks .