LAST UPDATE | 7 Jul 2023
TWO WHITE-TAILED eagles who were found dead in Ballymena last month were poisoned, the PSNI have confirmed.
The NI police service is investigating after the discovery of the birds, and has made a second appeal to the public for information after postmortem results determined they were poisoned by insecticide bendiocarb.
The insecticide is a poison commonly found in sprays and other products used to kill insects and other bugs, and is illegal for outdoor use.
The PSNI’s Rural and Wildlife Crime Superintendent Johnston McDowell said: “Sadly, police can confirm the two majestic birds found on land in the Glenhead Road area were poisoned, following a post-mortem examination.”
The PSNI believe the insecticide was illegally placed outside “so that wild birds have been able to consume it”.
How the birds came into contact with the poison is under investigation and the PSNI are working with members of the community and the Royal Society for Protection of Birds (RSPB) to determine how the birds consumed the toxic insecticide.
The RSPB are offering a £5000 reward for information that could lead to the prosecution of those involved in the poisoning.
In a statement, the conservation group said: “Conservationists monitoring one of the birds, which was fitted with a satellite tag, became concerned when the tag’s data indicated it had stopped moving.
“The bird’s body was then traced, with a second untagged bird also lying dead close by.”
Joanne Sherwood, Director RSPB NI described the killed as “devastating news”.
“That’s why the RSPB are offering a £5,000 reward for information that leads to a conviction of those who are responsible for this awful crime,” Sherwood added.
White-tailed eagles, a coastal and large species of sea eagle, are the largest bird of prey in Ireland. 100 were reintroduced into the environment in Killarney National Park in Co Kerry in 2007, according to Bird Watch Ireland.
White-tailed eagles are a protected species under the Wildlife Act.
The Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage said that the National Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS) began a second phase white-tailed eagle reintroduction project in 2020 “to bolster the existing eagle population in Ireland”.
Last month, the Department confirmed that “patience and planning have paid off” for the National Parks and Wildlife Service after a male eagle, released in 2008, had produced two chicks with a female bird, which was released in 2020.
In a statement from the NPWS today, Minister of State for Heritage Malcolm Noonan and Tánaiste Micheál Martin expressed “shock and disappointment” at the poisoning.
The service confirmed that one of the birds was released by Martin in August 2022, while he was serving as Taoiseach, on the Shannon Estuary as part the by NPWS white-tailed Eagle reintroduction programme.
The eagle was brought to Ireland from Norway as a chick under the second phase of the reintroduction programme.
The origin of the second dead eagle is unknown, but NPWS staff believe it most likely fledged from a nest in Munster in 2021.
An Tánaiste said: “I am deeply saddened and shocked to learn of the death of the white-tailed eagles.
“I have closely followed the reintroduction programme for a number of years and to be involved in the release of the seven young eagles in 2022 was an experience that I will never forget,” he added.
Martin said the reintroduction of the “iconic species” is something that the NPWS and the government have supported.
“There have been great successes in the programme over recent years, so to learn of a poisoning like this is very disappointing.”
Noonan said he was “appalled” by the poisoning, adding that an incident like this “sets back ambition, but we won’t be deterred”.
“Wildlife crime is wrong at any time but in a time of a biodiversity crisis it is socially abhorrent and I would urge anyone with information relating to this incident, to speak to the PSNI,”
Director General of the NPWS Niall Ó’Donnchú said he was “saddened” at the news of the poisoning.
“The deliberate poisoning of birds of prey is a heinous crime against nature and an offence under the Wildlife Acts. These birds have no means of detecting that they have been baited and the malice of forethought in these acts doesn’t bear thinking about,” Ó’Donnchú said.
“The test results suggest that an individual not only has access to the insecticide bendiocarb but has placed this into the outside environment illegally, so that wild birds have been able to consume it,” McDowell said.
Noonan said: “Whatever misunderstanding that is out there needs to be challenged.
“Toxic substances such as carbofurans are banned and need to be handed over for safe disposal.
“NPWS will work with colleagues in Northern Ireland, An Garda Siochana and the PSNI to fully investigate this incident and hopefully secure a successful prosecution,” the junior minister added.
Bendiocarb, in powdered form, is only permitted for indoor-use and, according to McDowell, the use of the toxic insecticide “would be a breach of Biocidal Products Regulation”.
McDowell said that the killing of the “beautiful birds” is “disgraceful”, and that it is “unacceptable” for anyone to place poison outdoors for birds to consume.
“Officers with support from the National Wildlife Crime Unit, have been on the ground conducting house-to-house enquiries, engaging with local residents and landowners, in the areas of where the birds were gravitating towards, before they were found deceased,” McDowell added.
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