Endangered White-tailed Eagle found dead in Cavan

Eagle found dead in November 2022.

The National Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS) at the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage is seeking any information relating to a White-tailed Eagle found dead In Cavan.

The dead bird, and endangered species, was discovered on lands between Lough Ramar, Co Cavan and Lough Sheelin, Co Westmeath and in November 2022.

The eagle, part of a national re-introduction programme undertaken by the NPWS, was found to have been killed by ingesting poison used as a ‘pest control’.

The NPWS is also urging people to be aware that the use of poisonous substances for the control of species such as foxes and crows is illegal and has been since 2010.

The healthy juvenile male White-tailed eagle - just over a year old - had been brought in as a chick in 2021 from Norway under phase two of a national re-introduction programme.

A local NPWS ranger collected the birds body on agricultural land in Cavan, and following the RAPTOR Protocol, a range of tests were carried out by staff of the Dublin Regional Veterinary Laboratory of the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine at Backweston.

These immediately ruled out Avian Influenza, illegal shooting or trauma. Subsequent toxicology tests conducted by the State Laboratory, have confirmed it had been poisoned with an illegal substance, known as Carbofuran. It is not known how the eagle ingested this substance, but possibly from eating carrion (a dead animal) laced with it.

Anyone with information on the matter is asked to contact NPWS at 01-5393156. These matters will be treated confidentially. Alternatively, information can be supplied to An Garda Síochana.

See next weeks Anglo-Celt newspaper for full report.