End of the line for the Kerry Eagle Project??

Birdnuts

The depressing (though at this stage predictable news) that 2 more sea eagles have been poisoned in Kerry must surely signal the death nail for this initially worthy but now apparently doomed project(see todays IT). It now appears that are being deliberately targeted, given that the lambing season in Kerry was well finished when these two eagles were poisoned, which rules out this in any case non-excuse.

By their actions this small but destructive, criminal scum element within the Kerry farming community have taken it upon themselves to sabotage an emblem of our natural heritage and what was proving to be a big draw for tourists to Killarney and the surrounding area with large groups of people coming to the National park to photograph these magnificent symbols of the wild in their rightfull and ancestral home in the Kerry mtns(as evidenced by the many place names in this part of ireland referring to both the english and irish word for eagle). Reading todays article in the IT it appears the individuals behind these acts of cultural,ecological and economic treason are using any toxic household or garden chemical they can get their evil hands on to carry out these despicable acts of cruelty:mad:.

Even worse for every eagle poisoned, even bigger numbers of other birds of prey as well as Ravens, pine martins and badgers(all protected species) are condemned to an agonizing and totally pointless death. It was assumed that the dark days when the irish countryside was awash with poison meat baits(mainly strychnine which was finally banned in 86') leading to the deaths of countless innocent wildlife and pets(my family are of Mayo farming stock and lost countless quality sheep dogs to this scourge) were behind us. It now appears to have reared its ugly head big time, at least in Kerry:(.
The only solution is to hit these scum were it hurts ie in the pocket through the total loss of any farm/headage payments for at least 3 years. This and the total ban on poison meat baits are the only way some of the most enigmatic and important symbols of our heritage and clean green image(on which so much of our tourism and indeed food industry depends) can be salvaged.

PS - The one sliver of in this case is that one of the eagles was found near an old sheep carcass so hopefully tests on both will help at least to identify the culprit.

gerky

For anyone who hasn't heard of the latest cases,
http://www.independent.ie/national-news/sea-eagle-plan-may-be-ditched-after-birds-found-dead-1726800.html
http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/ireland/2009/0502/1224245838892.html
http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/breaking/2009/0501/breaking59.htm

This is very upsetting and strong actions need to be taken, more than is being done now.

Alun

What I don't understand is why no-one is being prosecuted for this, or at the very least having every single EU payment and any REPS payments removed. They found the poisoned eagles near a dead sheep carcass that was laced with poison, the land on which the carcass was found obviously belongs to a particular farmer, so surely that's a clear cut case?

MrCreosote

The whole project will probably be canned now. I can't see the Norwegians going on with providing more chicks. Must say I despaired a little when there was a protest from the local farmers the day the first chicks were flown in.

Don't get me started on Kerry farmers. Completely economically nonviable, propped up with ridiculous subsidies, overgrazing, wrecking the hillsides, blocking off access and now this. Makes me laugh with the whole IFA "Custodians of the Countryside" crap. I might have a little more sympathy for them losing lambs if they didn't totally overpopulate the hills with them.

Birdnuts

While Kerry appears to be out on its own for this kind of vile activity, news that a family of 5 Ravens were found poisoned at the end of last week in Sligo shows that this problem is pretty widespread, particularly for some reason in parts of the west of Ireland.

PS - I'm working on a system based on data on the poisoning of birds of prey going back 25 years so as to color code counties from Red through to orange, yellow and finally green as regards risks to these species from this source. Obviously Kerry is very much in the red zone with the some NWestern counties orange, but more details later:)

meathstevie

Another argument for pestcontrol to be selective as to avoid desastrous ( hopefully ) unintended casualties. For example : don't poison rabbits grazing on for example young barley as they end up in the foodchain poisoning birds of prey, use feretting or lamping or netting etc etc....
Personally I don't believe in poison as a proper means to deal with problematic animals as it's not selective and the risks outweigh the potential benefits by a country mile.

Sundew

I for one will no longer visit Killarney and will spread the word to those who plan to go there :mad:

Prowetod

There was an article in Thursdays Irish Examiner about this project. It says that 20 more eagles have arrived from Norway, which are expected to be released over the coming few weeks in Killarney. Hopefully they will last.

Birdnuts

eoccork wrote: »

There was an article in Thursdays Irish Examiner about this project. It says that 20 more eagles have arrived from Norway, which are expected to be released over the coming few weeks in Killarney. Hopefully they will last.

This is crazy and bordering on animal cruelty given that the problem with criminal poisoning of 7 of the earlier birds has not been addressed:mad:

Connacht

This is all mind boggling.
I am not a scientist - maybe somebody on this forum is ? but I'm guessing that Sea Eagles, if they take a lamb (which I understand they don't anyway) leave a trace behind, or do they literally lift up the animal and carry it away whole ?
Clearly, if any farmer has the remains of a lamb that was 'taken' by an eagle, he could be paid Euro 1,000 or whatever large sum would stop him putting out the poison.
No, this is farmers wanting to poison anything they can - badgers, foxes, otters, etc.
These people are total scum and should be put in jail. The people of Kerry need to cop on and give up their neighbours, if they know who they are.

cuddlycavies

yep connacht, you're bang on there. That is how it is.

Discodog

There is a possible way to stop this by giving it maximum publicity. I actually think that it would of done more good long term if Norway had refused to supply more birds. We need an alternative Failte Ireland. One that tells tourists about the real attitude of the Irish to wildlife & animals in general. Maybe a spot the dead Eagle competition for visiting children.

JHR has so much clout. He has been spouting that poison should be concealed so that raptors can't get to it instead of saying that poison should be banned. This is the same JHR who I believe was quoted as saying that Sea Eagles could take babies from the arms of mothers.

Either it is impossible to prosecute or the Gardai don't want to proscecute - I know what I believe.

I was involved in the initial Red Kite release in the UK. The locals were so enthusiastic. School kids did projects on the birds & even fed them. Some farmers opposed & a few birds were shot. But the support & vigilance of the majority prevented any significant harm & that is what we do not have in Kerry.

Hilarious to watch coach loads of twitchers driving down the M40, on their way to see Red Kites in Wales, unaware that the Kites were flying above them.

Alun

Discodog wrote: »

JHR has so much clout. He has been spouting that poison should be concealed so that raptors can't get to it instead of saying that poison should be banned. This is the same JHR who I believe was quoted as saying that Sea Eagles could take babies from the arms of mothers.

JHR?

Either it is impossible to prosecute or the Gardai don't want to proscecute - I know what I believe.

I'd say it's a pretty clear cut case, the birds were found on someone's land close to poisoned carcases. What more proof do they need? So quite why no-one has been prosecuted and hung out to dry locally is a mystery to me.

On a connected note (and I suspect I know the answer to this already!) .. do they have dedicated Wildlife Protection Officers in the Gardai, like they have in many UK police force divisions?

Hilarious to watch coach loads of twitchers driving down the M40, on their way to see Red Kites in Wales, unaware that the Kites were flying above them.

They're becoming quite commonplace in parts of Wales. I walked the Offa's Dyke long distance footpath along the Welsh borders a few years ago, and after a few days you got used to them flying overhead and stopped noticing them!

Discodog

Jackie Healey Rae.

The Farmer will argue that the Eagle carried the lamb on to his land & it died there. Rediculous but it has been heard before.

Red kites are now really common in the Chilterns area of England. The release was a huge success & the birds are quite tame.

Birdnuts

Discodog wrote: »

There is a possible way to stop this by giving it maximum publicity. I actually think that it would of done more good long term if Norway had refused to supply more birds. We need an alternative Failte Ireland. One that tells tourists about the real attitude of the Irish to wildlife & animals in general. Maybe a spot the dead Eagle competition for visiting children.

JHR has so much clout. He has been spouting that poison should be concealed so that raptors can't get to it instead of saying that poison should be banned. This is the same JHR who I believe was quoted as saying that Sea Eagles could take babies from the arms of mothers.

Either it is impossible to prosecute or the Gardai don't want to proscecute - I know what I believe.

I was involved in the initial Red Kite release in the UK. The locals were so enthusiastic. School kids did projects on the birds & even fed them. Some farmers opposed & a few birds were shot. But the support & vigilance of the majority prevented any significant harm & that is what we do not have in Kerry.

Hilarious to watch coach loads of twitchers driving down the M40, on their way to see Red Kites in Wales, unaware that the Kites were flying above them.

Well said - at the end of the day its all about educating people. The problem in this country is that beyond some good work at primary level
under the An Taisce green flag programme, there is little or no reinforcement on vital environmental/sustainablity issues at secondary level in this country when young people usually start to shape attitudes that stay with them through adult hood. The amount of rubbish strewn on beachs, in rivers and generally in town and countryside is the most obvious and depressing sign of this sorry state of affairs:(