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LAST UPDATE | 15 Jan
A TWO-YEAR-OLD endangered eagle has been shot dead in Co Westmeath.
The National Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS) is appealing to the public for any information in relation to the shooting of the eagle.
The female White-tailed Eagle was part of the NPWS White-tailed Eagle Reintroduction Programme and was first released in 2022 on the Shannon Estuary.
White-tailed Eagle chicks are fitted with satellite tags to monitor their movement through the reintroduction programme. Information from this eagle’s satellite tag indicates that she died sometime on Friday 6 December, the day before Storm Darragh, in the Ballynafid/Portnashangan area at Lough Owel near Mullingar in Co Westmeath
The NPWS has launched an investigation following the the shooting of the bird.
Investigating officers have established that the bird was shot and are awaiting further forensic analysis results that may provide additional information.
In a statement, the NPWS said that it “deplores the deliberate killing of rare and endangered species, and takes bird of prey persecutions extremely seriously”.
“NPWS is appealing for any information the public may have in relation to the incident,” it said.
“Satellite information shows that she was present in the area over the previous couple of weeks having travelled widely across the country since her release in 2022.
“In early 2023, she left north Kerry, and spent time at various locations along the western seaboard. She also travelled to Donegal and spent a lot of time making trips over and back to north Antrim, Fermanagh, Cavan and other counties, including visiting Lough Ree in the north midlands.
“Lately she had come back to Westmeath where she moved between local lakes- Lough Owel, Lough Derravaragh and Lough Ennell.
Those with information can contact the NPWS by emailing wildlifeenforcement@npws.gov.ie, with the NPWS adding that all reports will be treated “in the strictest of confidence”.
Minister of State for Nature and Heritage Malcolm Noonan has also appealed to the public for information following the death of the white-tailed eagle.
In a statement, Noonan said he was “devastated” to hear of the recent shooting.
“White Tailed Eagles are treasured by local communities and visitors to Ireland alike and any loss resonates throughout,” Noonan said.
“I appeal to the public to come forward with any information that they may have in relation to this incident. I am assured that NPWS are undertaking a thorough investigation led by the Wildlife Crime Directorate with the support of An Garda Siochána and will, where possible, bring the perpetrators of this unacceptable crime to justice.”
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Hope they arrest the Tramp that done this.
@Dan Murphy: all that will happen is a fine . Animal welfare laws in Ireland are a disgrace . Theres no deterrent to animal cruelty at all.
@tommy little: This. There should be far harsher sentencing and deterrents for animal abuse and cruelty. Suspended sentences and a few hundred quid just tells people that these crimes don’t matter a jot. Meanwhile people get the same kind of fines for a bit of weed. Perverse stuff.
I will never understand the knuckle draggers who see a magnificent creature from the natural world and think ‘I should shoot it’. It’s a sign of an incredibly undeveloped psyche as much as it’s malicious and often sadistic too. That’s before we get to the absolute ghouls who pay to go shooting at endangered animals in African countries. If you need to kill something to get your kicks, I’d be worried about the humans in your life too.
@SerotoninWars: or chase it on horses with 20 or more dogs untill it’s killes
Depressing. Anyone who shoots animals for recreation is an arsehole of epic proportions.
@Setanta O’Toole: Big time. The people who organise shooting and hunting meet ups are exactly what you described, but also plain weird. There’s a gazillion things to do. Endless ways of hooking up for a chat and bit of socialising and they pick THAT! It’s a really odd form of narcissism that puts you at the centre of everything in some wannabe god mode. Maybe it’s just a way of pretending you hold more power and matter more than you do. One of the biggest signs of maturity is realising you are a pretty insignificant being, passing through for a very short amount of time. Attempting to restrict your more bellendular tendencies while you’re here doesn’t seem that big an ask!
@Dave G Doe: you hardly go sourcing your own food like Riff raff Dave, do you?
@Dave G Doe: Who shoots eagles for food?
@helen mary fitzsimons: he’s just up Helen, they can’t all be gold.
@Dave G Doe: The eagle wasn’t shot so that it could be dinner.
@Setanta O’Toole: Members club often serves ‘Eagle pate’ lol
@Dave G Doe: here’s some attention Dave.
@Dave G Doe: that’s a bit of a tasteless remark, isn’t it? Considering this is about someone shooting an endangered bird of prey, I wonder how we’d like being hunted.
@Dave G Doe: if you did too wouldn’t be calling it ‘go on the pack hunts’, a clear sign you haven’t a notion…as usual
I hope the SC##B#G has terrible misfortune for the rest of his life!
Sickening stuff, beautiful creature taken out by a buck toothed culchie.
@Freda Peeple: Because Dubs never go and wreak havoc outside of the county? We have plenty of absolute psychos in Dublin involved in all sorts of cruelty and intimidation never mind heading to places like the Wicklow mountains to dump bodies. I agree that this was a sickening act but c’mon the ‘culchie’ thing is so unnecessary. We’re all Irish, there’s dopes everywhere, and thank god the entire country isn’t like Dublin, as much as I love certain things about it :)
@SerotoninWars: Quite true, Dublin is full of skanks too, I may be a sociapath but cruelty to animals is worse than humans being cruel to each other in my book, apart from children or elderly being harmed, it’s the lowest of the low attacking a defenceless animal.
@Freda Peeple: How do you know he’s not from Dublin?
@Freda Peeple: I’m with you on so much of this. Sadly, the endless conveyor belt of awfulness desensitises everyone to a certain extent. It’s one thing after another and we all feel pretty powerless. But cruelty to defenceless animals remains one of those things that’s still so upsetting, and unforgivable.
@Ken Fallon: He? What do you know Ken?
@Freda Peeple: Those Dubs that tried their hand at badger baiting on the Barristers land got a taste of their own medicine
@Don Johnson: Correct, those trespassers missed the memo when he was forced to control their dog for them.
Anybody involved in that grotesque act of baiting wild animals should be chemically castrated.
@Don Johnson: Yea that was great to see, that’s instant justice.
@Freda Peeple: so you know who shot the eagle?
@SerotoninWars: epic level whataboutery
Somebody heard the gunshot . Somebody spoke to the animal that did this . Somebody knows who did this anshould have the courage to do the right thing and report the killer ( anonymously)
There’s always a new low.
Unfortunately this country is full of trigger-happy neanderthals in the rural areas. They don’t give a flying fcuk about the environment nevermind our wildlife.
‘I pointed my loud pipe at the sky and got it! Hahaha!!!’
That’s the mentality we’re dealing with.
Hopefully the person who did this is as dumb as the vermin who put their shooting and torture of rooks on snap last year. Thankfully they were prosecuted for that.
This is just terrible. Live in rural north county dublin. Love to see ans hear tha hawks in nearby fields ans trees..
That’s just so wrong in every way
I went hunting as a teenager in rural county cork with shotguns on a weekend. It sickened me with what these ghouls would shoot if it flew overhead it was dead instantly without any regard to the what type of bird. Once was enough never again.
Culture-less lantern jawed, knuckle scrapers still shining brightly through missing teeth it seems.
FMucker!
What kind of CU next Tuesday would do that ???
I think the culprit should be shot in the leg or something, just to teach him a lesson
RIP, condolences to his family and friends
But was it a knuckle dragger or a farmer?
There can be a difference.
@Padraig O’Brien: it was on a nature reserve/national park.
Some sheep farmers think that they are a danger to newborn lambs, but that is not their preferred food, which is fish and sea birds. Please An Garda Siochana, find this murderer quickly, and use the case as a deterrent to other gun happy morons
@Shelley Keary: impossible task to find the shooter. Deny deny and deny against zero proof
Filth
Why? I’m sure the answer to that would be . Because I felt like it. That’s what idiots say when they can’t explain their actions.
Feckers
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