White-tailed eagle massacre continues

According to the RTE News agency, a White-tailed eagle (Seeadler) was shot and found dead in Tipperary, Ireland on the 5th of March.

This is a tragic loss of one of the first two white-tailed eagles to fledge successfully from a nest in Ireland after the introduction of the species into Ireland.

Post-mortem examination results showed that it was shot and as a result that there were between 45 and 50 pellets in its body. The impact of the shooting broke one of its legs and wings, but the bird survived some weeks after the shooting before slowly dying.

The young male eagle was reared by a pair of white-tailed eagles at a nest on Lough Derg, near Mountshannon, Co Clare and successfully flew from the nest in July 2013.

We believe that this tragic loss demonstrates that people still do not value wildlife as an important asset of our common European heritage

Max A E Rossberg

Chairman European Wilderness Society

Minister for Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht Jimmy Deenihan said the birth of this bird was a special day for nature conservation in Ireland.  He said he was shocked and said that eagles are protected by law.