Eagle petition

luckat

The Golden Eagle Trust has organised an online petition to show the support for the ongoing reintroduction of Golden Eagles, White-tailed Eagles and Red Kites in Ireland and for efforts to put a stop to illegal poisoning.

If as many people as possible could take a minute to sign the petition and to forward it on to a couple of people who they think might consider signing it, we could have a significant impact.

The poisoning of such magnificent birds is hurting Ireland's image abroad and may prevent source countries from contributing nestlings to the reintroduction projects in future.

The petition can be found at: http://www.goldeneagle.ie/portal.php?z=197

marlin vs

Bump.

BryanL

Are serious sanctions not already in place for anyone found guilty of posioning these birds?

To think this is hurting Irelands image abroad? come on, it really isn't making international headlines. Yes the Scots are having a vote to see if they will continue to support the Irish re-introduction because of the posioning, but they themselves had similar problems with they're own re-introductions, initially. They kept going and have been successful.

Don't this as disinterest in the project, i've been lucky enough to see a golden eagle and 2 sea eagles in Ireland and it's an amazing sight and a stunning project.
Bryan

boneless

Just raising the profile of this petition in case people may have overlooked the thread.

luckat

Article in today's Irish Times:

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/opinion/2009/0509/1224246187446.html

Protecting our wildlife

WHITE-TAILED sea eagles bring an estimated €3 million in additional revenue to the Isle of Mull each year as tourists go there to view the birds in flight. Here in Ireland, efforts to reintroduce these birds to Co Kerry may fail because of indiscriminate poisonings. Golden eagles are under threat for a similar reason in Co Donegal, while red kites and buzzards have recently been poisoned in counties Wicklow, Louth, Meath and Dublin.

At a time when employment in rural tourism is falling, such behaviour by a small number of farmers is intolerable.

Apart altogether from considerations of local employment, killing endangered species of birds impoverishes us all, shows no respect for the environment and should result in EU farm payments being withheld from those responsible. For the past eight years, the Golden Eagle Trust has lobbied the government to ban the use of poison meat baits. Now, Minister for the Environment John Gormley has promised new regulations. But until the Minister for Agriculture Brendan Smith also bans the use of poisoned baits to kill foxes, nothing will change. A ban on such an indiscriminate control method exists in Britain. Why not here?

Some farmers may argue that poison has traditionally been used to control vermin. So it has. But time moves on. Traditional practices, such as the use of gin-traps to catch both animals and humans, is now illegal. Farmers are required by law to erect signs on their land and inform the Garda if poison is laid. And dead livestock should no longer be left above ground and used as poisoned bait. But rules and regulations are of little use in the absence of education and enforcement. Farming organisations have a responsibility to encourage their members to protect endangered species while the authorities should pursue and prosecute those who flout the law.

Ignorance and poverty contributed to the extermination of the golden eagle, the white-tailed sea eagle, the red kite and other large predators in this country during the last century. Now, because of the generosity of wildlife agencies in Norway and Britain, we have been given an opportunity to, once again, enjoy the spectacle of these beautiful birds in flight. But the loss of seven out of 34 sea eagles to poison in the past two years in Kerry and a similar mortality rate for golden eagles in Donegal has caused the suspension of further chick deliveries. The viability of both projects is under threat. Urgent, official action is required. Poisoned meat baits should be banned and the sale of poisons controlled.

Birdnuts

Good article that - Time for the government to get the finger out on this one:)

Galvasean

I feel bad only having spotting this thread now. Hopefully my signing will still be of use.

Fran Costello

Saw the Golden Eagles in Glenveigh and Red Kites in Wicklow...Still want to see the Sea Eagles...any tips?

Birdnuts

Isle of Skye(Scotland):)

miniamber

I have just signed the petition , I have never seen these birds but im highly unlikley to if people are poisining them .

magicbastarder

just to show it's not a problem unique to ireland:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/scotland/highlands_and_islands/8220951.stm

Birdnuts

magicbastarder wrote: »

just to show it's not a problem unique to ireland:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/scotland/highlands_and_islands/8220951.stm

Indeed and shows the immense damage a tiny group of scumbag criminal types can do with a few poisoned carcasses as we know all to well from last winter in Kerry et al. It is interesting to note that reported incidents in Scotland are down(though as pointed out by the RSPB are still unexceptionably high), which in a large part is due to the Scottish Exec tough approach of hitting landowners EU subsidies if convicted of these vile activities, something that should definatly be considered over here to tackle ongoing problems in a number of counties, mostly in the West of the country.

Jackobyte

Just signed petition...!:D

heavyballs

if anyone is interested i can tell you exactly where to find a gr8 example of a red kite,have seen it almost every day over the past 2 weeks,pm me and i'll give exact location,(Arklow area)don't want to post it up as i knoe there are a couple of shoters in the area who would love to have it killed

ytpe2r5bxkn0c1

heavyballs wrote: »

if anyone is interested i can tell you exactly where to find a gr8 example of a red kite,have seen it almost every day over the past 2 weeks,pm me and i'll give exact location,(Arklow area)don't want to post it up as i knoe there are a couple of shoters in the area who would love to have it killed

To be honest giving that information just because you get a PM is irresponsible. PMs are no guarantee of anything.:(

Crann na Beatha

This post has been deleted.