The shooting of a white-tailed eagle in County Westmeath in December has been described as a "big loss" by BirdWatch Ireland.

The National Parks and Wildlife Services is investigating the shooting of the bird, which was part of programme to re-introduce the species to Ireland.

According to satellite tags, the eagle was killed on December 6th in the Ballynafid/Portnashangan area at Lough Owel.

On Moncrieff, BirdWatch Ireland's head of communications Niall Hatch said it is "horrible" to hear of the shooting of a bird-of-prey in Ireland.

"We know that this bird was released on the Shannon Estuary in 2022," Mr Hatch said.

"She was a two-year-old female - too young yet to be breeding but still a big loss to the re-introduction programme."

Mr Hatch stressed that the killing of white-tailed eagles is a crime.

"It is completely illegal for anyone to harm one of these birds - the killing is a serious criminal offence," he said.

"What the motivation behind it is - I can’t even fathom."

Re-introduction programme

Mr Hatch said the re-introduction programme has been a "successful project so far".

"Despite the efforts of some people to try and eliminate the species for whatever reason - it is doing well enough," he said.

"There are now several breeding pairs in parts of the country - particularly in the south and west of Ireland and some of them do wander quite widely."

The white-tailed eagles released in Ireland as part of the programme came from Norway.

"These birds are gifts from the Norwegian State," Mr Hatch said.

"It’s worth stressing that when this happens, it does make headlines in Norway."

White-tailed eagle in flight

Yesterday, the outgoing Minister for State and Natural Heritage Malcolm Noonan said the killing of the white-tailed eagle is a "deplorable act".

Anyone with information on the shooting of the white-tailed eagle has been urged to contact the NPWS.

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