Another Sea Eagle poisoned

[orfeo]

Another eagle poisoned in Kerry ,this is the 19th eagle deliberately poisoned , what are we like ?

[deco]

f'ing farmers

[honeyec]

It's an embarrassment to the country and the IFA have yet to publicly condemn the practice. And there hasn't been a single report of a lamb being taken by any of the reintroduced birds here (one could argue that they weren't given the chance), nor in Scotland, where the programme has been a great success.

Fcukers, every single one of the poisoning b$&%@#ds.

[IanD]

Simple solution to this is to stop all Farmer handouts from EU in the areas that Birds are poisoned until the culprits are caught and prosecuted. With no EU Money the farmers will be quick about reporting the culprits.

I was told when in Killarney a couple of years ago that the birds were bringing in more money from tourists than farming to the local economy.

[rooster]

Simple solution to this is to stop all Farmer handouts from EU in the areas that Birds are poisoned until the culprits are caught and prosecuted. With no EU Money the farmers will be quick about reporting the culprits.

Anyone got any proof it is farmers ?
2 chemicals used one of which is banned and known to be a gamekeepers favorite over in Scotland, the other is also a common ingredient in mouse poison used by local authoritys and guess what these birds of prey eat mice.
I think people are automatically jumping to conclusions of who is responsible without proper thought of what could well be happening.
Also that suggestion of stopping payments is just plain daft as for a start off those birds travel huge distances to feed and secondly read what I said above which could well be what is happening.

[Blue Steel]

Another eagle poisoned in Kerry ,this is the 19th eagle deliberately poisoned , what are we like ?

We? You mean ignorant Kerry farmers trying to wipe out an endangered species because they're incapable of understanding the natural world on any other terms but their own?

I would not count myself among their ilk.

[olaf the fat]

Farmers are not trying to wipe out the new birds, they are trying to control foxes as they have done for generations. There were some "protests" befor the birds were introduced but that was just an attempt to rattle up an extra few quid. Eagles and kites etc dont take anywhere near enough lambs for a farmer to go to the bother planting baited carcass around but poor ould Basil Brush does.
A bit of info on methods of fox control might mean more to a farmer than a campaign to protect a bird he has probably never seen

[deco]

Farmers may not be not trying to wipe out the new birds, they may be trying to control foxes in an illeagle (sorry, couldn't help that) manner as they have done for generations. There were some "protests" befor the birds were introduced but that was just an attempt to rattle up an extra few quid. Eagles and kites etc dont take anywhere near enough lambs for a farmer to go to the bother planting baited carcass around but poor ould Basil Brush does.
A bit of info on methods of fox control might mean more to a farmer than a campaign to protect a bird he has probably never seen

fixed that for you, agree with your line of thinking though - but it still doesn't make it right.

[olaf the fat]

Farmers may not be not trying to wipe out the new birds, they may be trying to control foxes in an illeagle (sorry, couldn't help that) manner as they have done for generations. There were some "protests" befor the birds were introduced but that was just an attempt to rattle up an extra few quid. Eagles and kites etc dont take anywhere near enough lambs for a farmer to go to the bother planting baited carcass around but poor ould Basil Brush does.
A bit of info on methods of fox control might mean more to a farmer than a campaign to protect a bird he has probably never seen

fixed that for you, agree with your line of thinking though - but it still doesn't make it right.

Its completely wrong. A lazy way to deal with a natural problem. To have things changed it will have to be approached from the right direction, old sheep farmers may need a bit of herding

[johng]

Ah Sh1t! I thought you meant the Rugby League team!

[janeymac08]

Farmers may not be not trying to wipe out the new birds, they may be trying to control foxes in an illeagle (sorry, couldn't help that) manner as they have done for generations. There were some "protests" befor the birds were introduced but that was just an attempt to rattle up an extra few quid. Eagles and kites etc dont take anywhere near enough lambs for a farmer to go to the bother planting baited carcass around but poor ould Basil Brush does.
A bit of info on methods of fox control might mean more to a farmer than a campaign to protect a bird he has probably never seen

fixed that for you, agree with your line of thinking though - but it still doesn't make it right.

Its completely wrong. A lazy way to deal with a natural problem. To have things changed it will have to be approached from the right direction, old sheep farmers may need a bit of herding

More than likely hill farmers are responsible - so controlling vermin on hill commonage wouldn't be exactly easy to deal with.

[JohnB]

To be fair, it is not just "Kerry farmers" who are poisoning birds of prey. One of the reintroduced Red Kites was found dead from poison in Wicklow last month or the month before. The Govt needs to tighten up the law in regard to use of poisioned bait as is clear from this excerpt from the Birdwatch Ireland website: "It is illegal under the Animal By-Product Regulations to knowingly leave dead livestock above ground; however, provided that the intention is to kill a fox, it is lawful to lay out poison on other meat baits (other than a livestock carcass), under certain conditions. These regulations clearly do not provide adequate safeguards to prevent the inevitable poisoning of birds of prey and as such are in clear contravention of the EU Birds Directive."

[rooster]

The Govt needs to tighten up the law in regard to use of poisioned bait as is clear from this excerpt from the Birdwatch Ireland website: "It is illegal under the Animal By-Product Regulations to knowingly leave dead livestock above ground; however, provided that the intention is to kill a fox, it is lawful to lay out poison on other meat baits (other than a livestock carcass), under certain conditions.

Interesting as in UK it has been illegal to use poison since 1996 for fox control.

[honeyec]

The Govt needs to tighten up the law in regard to use of poisioned bait as is clear from this excerpt from the Birdwatch Ireland website: "It is illegal under the Animal By-Product Regulations to knowingly leave dead livestock above ground; however, provided that the intention is to kill a fox, it is lawful to lay out poison on other meat baits (other than a livestock carcass), under certain conditions.

Interesting as in UK it has been illegal to use poison since 1996 for fox control.

Ireland hasn't exactly been leading the charge in leglislating on animal protection issues...

[JohnB]

Of the 55 White Tailed Sea Eagles released since 2007, 15 have been found dead. Of those 15, 7 were poisoned all of them in Kerry. Thus far, 3 of the Red Kites released by the Golden Eagle Trust which is coordinating the re-introduction of the Golden and Sea Eagles and Red Kites have been poisoned in the Republic (1 last year and 2 this year). In addition, a Red Kite released in N.Ireland was found dead from poison in Kildare on 16 March this year.

Thus far in 2010, 10 birds of prey, all "protected species" have been found poisoned to death: 3 Buzzards, 2 White Tailed Sea Eagles, 1 Golden Eagle, 1 Peregrine Falcon and 3 Red Kites.

There is a very interesting but also very dispiriting blog in the News section of www.goldeneagle.ie, the website of the Golden Eagle Trust which is well worth reading.

[gfo]

The IFA wont condemn it because they support the poisoning. Farmers in the West have openly stated in the past they poison hen harriers rather than risk losing lambs to them.
Keep in mind the hen harrier eats mice and small rodents and you get an idea of how ridiculous it is.

[chainsaw]

Unfortunately it's not just us. In Scotland Insp. MacPlod is investigating the deaths of three golden eagles only last week, poisoning suspected. I think it all goes back to education, in Ireland you can sit the Leaving Cert in Japanese, Arabic, Ancient Greek or Construction Studies but not Ecology or Environmental Science. A clear message from Government that they are not very concerned with the future of our wildlife.

[rooster]

The Govt needs to tighten up the law in regard to use of poisioned bait as is clear from this excerpt from the Birdwatch Ireland website: "It is illegal under the Animal By-Product Regulations to knowingly leave dead livestock above ground; however, provided that the intention is to kill a fox, it is lawful to lay out poison on other meat baits (other than a livestock carcass), under certain conditions.

Interesting as in UK it has been illegal to use poison since 1996 for fox control.

Ireland hasn't exactly been leading the charge in leglislating on animal protection issues...

Totally immaterial anyway in this instance as the poisons used are illegal anyway so the act of using them for fox control or any other pest control is an offence, carbofuran was never passed as a poison for foxes, it is a systemic insecticide used for aphids, mites and nematodes, now illegal in most countries, highly toxic and very dangerous to use from memory about 0.5 kg of the stuff per acre wiped out all known little pesty things and less than a gram will do the same for a human.
Alphachlorolose is legal for both mouse and bird control, it works like an anesthetic and the victim then can succomb to hypothermia or in warm weather will stumble around for a while before recovering unless they get a very large dose, anything with suspected poisoning from this can be revived by keeping warm for a few hours. It is possible that a bird of prey eating poisoned mice could get poisoned that way as well as eating pioson bait.
Nitroxynil has also been mentioned, this one baffles me as it is a commonly used for liver fluke in sheep and has been found in conjunction with alphachlorolose in some of the cases sounds like it may have been already in the dead sheep that was used as bait, the cost of using it as a poison seems a bit on the daft side and it is possibly just picked up in analysis but not the real problem

Ireland does however have pretty strict animal welfare laws in line with the rest of the EU and in some cases higher than the EU minimum standards and if there was a will something could be sorted, for a start off using carbofuran as a poison on a carcasss is illegal for any reason.

Unfortunately it's not just us. In Scotland Insp. MacPlod is investigating the deaths of three golden eagles only last week, poisoning suspected.

In Scotland the problem is in the big game shoot areas, grouse shooting rights are worth a small fortune and birds of prey are known to eat young grouse chicks, several big estates have been prosecuted and massive fines levied over the years, they can look like a small fine but that then usually leads to them losing their farm payments as well, but they still continue, read somewhere that gamelkeepers are responsible for over three quarters of bird of prey deaths.

On the plus side there is a growing population of buzzards up here where I live, you can look up to the sky any time of the year and see at least 1 or usually 2 and up to 7 have been sighted at once, and I see one of the Kites every few days even though we are a fair distance from where they were released.

UFU up here have supported the Red Kite reintroduction and are working with RSPB on it.

[chainsaw]

Yes,noticable increase in Buzzards around Dublin also. Over the past five years I've worked around road construction near Kill, Co.Kildare, near Julianstown ,Co.Meath and watched Buzzards frequently in both locations. Best of all, though, was near the M50 just past the Carrickmines exit heading towards Bray. Buzzards raised young here in 2007 and 2008 as far as we could tell. Spectacular displays of soaring and calling, up to five birds at once. Then saw one wheeling high above the city centre when we were at the tall ships in 2008, I think, a couple of local hooded crows went up to try and give it grief but they got no change from that encounter.

[Mackman15]

Ban on poisons introduced

ÉANNA Ó CAOLLAÍ

The Government is to make it an offence for anyone to use poisons on birds or animals.

Anyone convicted under the new law will face fines of up to €5,000 or imprisonment for a term of up to 12 months, or both.

The programme to re-introduce the golden eagle, white-tailed eagle and red kite to Ireland is sponsored by the Department of the Environment and the new laws are being introduced in an attempt to protect the introduction of the birds in Ireland.

Golden eagles bred in two locations in Co. Donegal in 2010, and red kites bred in Wicklow. The white-tailed eagles are still too young to breed.

The move follows the poisoning of 12 large birds of prey in the past year, including golden eagle, red kite, white-tailed eagle and buzzard.

The Scottish and Norwegian governments, who licence the capture of eagles in their countries for release in Ireland, have expressed grave concern at the poisonings.

Mr Gormley said he was "very concerned" that poisoning incidents could damage the projects to re-introduce the birds. "Such actions are irresponsible as well as illegal and they give a very negative image of Ireland's farming and tourism sectors, nationally and internationally," he said.

"The re-introduction of these magnificent eagles and kites into Ireland will further enhance Ireland*s environmental reputation for respecting its wildlife and enable us to harness the associated social, cultural and economic benefits," Mr Gormley said.

"We now call on everyone to respect the law and protect these birds of prey, which are of real economic value to the rural communities in the release areas," he added,

The Department of Agriculture has confirmed that there is now no pesticide registered or approved in the Ireland that can be used to poison birds or foxes.

A chemical called alphachloralose was previously registered, and commonly used, to kill crows. The approval was removed in November 2008.

Alphachloralose is now only registered and approved in Ireland for the control of mice and any poisoning of foxes and rows is now illegal.

Minister for Agriculture Brendan Smith said people who need to control rats and mice to be "very careful" in the use of poisons, pointing out that there is a risk that birds such as barn owls can be accidentally killed if they eat a rat that has already eaten poison.

"Barn Owls are a good friend to the farmer but sadly have become scarce in Ireland due in part to accidental poisoning", Mr Smith said.


http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/bre ... ing11.html

Will believe it when i see it.......