Two White-tailed Eagles Found Dead Near Ballymena

Raptor Persecution UK:

POLICE IN BALLYMENA APPEAL FOR INFORMATION FOLLOWING DISCOVERY OF TWO WHITE-TAILED EAGLES 

 Police are investigating the circumstances following the discovery of two dead white-tailed eagles, in the Glenhead Road area of Ballymena on Monday, 15th May.

Police Service of Northern Ireland Lead for Rural and Wildlife Crime, Superintendent McDowell said: “A report was made to police shortly before 2pm on Monday , after the discovery of two white-tailed eagles found beside one another. 

“The birds had no obvious signs of injury and suspicions have been raised given the unlikely position where they were found. 

“An investigation has now commenced, with a post-mortem examination due to be carried out to determine the cause of death“. 

The white-tailed eagle is the UK’s largest native bird of prey, with a vast wing span of up to 2.5 metres, and are an incredibly beautiful species, which makes the discovery of these dead birds very distressing.

In particular, we are aware one of the birds was born in Norway and brought as a chick to be released in the lower Shannon estuary in 2022. 

Following the launch of Op Subrision last week, our dedicated policing operation to combat rural and wildlife crime, we want the public to be reassured, we take all wildlife crime extremely seriously and are committed to investigating all instances of wildlife crime which are reported to police.

If you have any information that can help with our investigation, please contact police on the non-emergency number 101 and quote 1906 16/05/23.

Alternatively, you can submit a report online using the non-emergency reporting form via http://www.psni.police.uk/makeareport/ .

You can also contact Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111 or online.

The Northern Ireland Raptor Study Group has also issued a press release, as follows: 

YOUNG WHITE-TAILED EAGLES FOUND DEAD IN COUNTRY ANTRIM

Two White-tailed eagles have been found dead lying side by side in the Glenwherry area of Co. Antrim on Monday the 15th of May 2023. Both birds were immature eagles, not yet of breeding age. One of them was a bird released in the Lower Shannon Estuary in August 2022 by National Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS) as part of the reintroduction programme, having been collected from Norway during 2022. The second bird was an unmarked immature bird of unknown origin, likely from Scotland or Ireland. They were found only a few metres apart and appeared to have died in recent days.

Once relatively common on many mountainous and coastal areas White-tailed eagles were celebrated and revered for centuries. However attitudes towards birds of prey changed from admiration to hatred and intolerance by the 17th century and systematic killing, along with widespread habitat change, led to the extinction of White-tailed eagles from the island of Ireland in 1912. Thanks to reintroduction efforts the first successful breeding White-tailed eagles in over 100 years produced a single chick in 2013. These eagles take 4-5 years to reach maturity and typically only produce 1-2 chicks per year. This means that the population remains extremely vulnerable. The loss of these two young birds is a real blow to the recovery of the population in the UK and Ireland. 

Birds of prey, which are essential in balancing a healthy ecosystem, continue to be been illegally targeted to such an extent some areas are at risk of losing their natural top predators again. Some of the toxins used to poison birds of prey are banned substances and are extremely dangerous, not only to wildlife but also livestock, pets and people. 

Dr Eimear Rooney of the Northern Ireland Raptor Study Group (NIRSG) stated: 

“Finding such magnificent birds dead is just heart-breaking and we sincerely hope that they are not poisoned or illegally killed although the circumstances of finding two birds dead beside each other is highly irregular and suspicious and they have been collected by the PSNI for post-mortem to establish the cause of death”. 

Eimear continued: “I would like to commend the PSNI on their rapid response and recovery of the two birds for testing. The reality is that often these birds are found in remote areas and we rely on information from the public and landowners to understand the circumstances which led to the death of these birds.” 

If any member of the public has any suspicions, information, photographs or dash cam footage or knows of illegal or unusual activity or people in the Glenwherry region, (including Starbog Road, Shillanavogy Road, Glenhead Road, Drumcrow Road, or Glenview Road), please report these to the PSNI on 101 or online https://www.psni.police.uk/report, or anonymously to Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111. Please refer to the crime reference number 1096 of the 15-5-23. 

Any photographs of these birds would also be very helpful to help establish their whereabouts over recent days and these can be sent to NIRSG.