Latest news with #Caimín
The Journal
4 days ago
- General
- The Journal
Possible poisoning of white-tailed eagle an ‘uppercut to reintroduction but won't knock it back'
THE FIRST MALE white-tailed eagle to breed in Ireland in over a century has been found dead in Co Clare and was possibly poisoned. The white-tailed eagle, known as Caimín, held territory at the Mountshannon nest site at Lough Derg in Co Clare for the past 17 years. Eamonn Meskell is head of the National Parks and Wildlife Service programme to reintroduce the white-tailed eagle to Ireland. Speaking to RTÉ's Morning Ireland, Meskell described Caimín's death as an 'uppercut to the reintroduction project, but not one that's going to knock us back'. Caimín was found dead last Saturday and an investigation is now under way into the circumstances of his death. Initial post-mortem results from the Regional Veterinary Laboratory indicate poisoning as a possible cause of death. While Meskell said white-tailed eagles don't often die from poisoning, he warned that he has 'disturbingly noticed an increase in poisonings over the last three to five years'. Advertisement 'We've lost chicks to poisoning and rodenticide poisoning, and the initial autopsy shows that Caimín likely succumbed to rodenticide poisoning as well,' said Meskell. File image of a white-tailed eagle in flight Alamy Stock Photo Alamy Stock Photo He explained that Caimín was taken from a wild nest in Norway in 2008 and was among the first consignment of 20 white-tailed eagle chicks to be sent from Norway to Ireland. Meskell said these chicks that were delivered to Ireland in 2008 were nurtured and then released into the wild with satellite tags. 'Lo and behold, five years later, Caimín mated with another white-tailed eagle chick from Norway that was released in Killarney National Park,' Meskell explained. 'They were the first pair to breed successfully and 'fledge', which means that the chicks flew from the nest in Mountshannon in 2013, and that sparked off eco tourism there and 10,000 people visited to see the eagles and chicks that year.' Caimín and Saoirse had 15 chicks, before Saoirse died of avian flu. But Caimín went onto breed once more with another eagle called Bernardine who arrived in Ireland as part of a later consignment from Norway. 'Even though Caimín was picked up dead earlier this month, Bernardine is on the nest, raising a chick now in Mountshannon as we speak, so there is light at the end of the tunnel.' Readers like you are keeping these stories free for everyone... A mix of advertising and supporting contributions helps keep paywalls away from valuable information like this article. Over 5,000 readers like you have already stepped up and support us with a monthly payment or a once-off donation. Learn More Support The Journal
RTÉ News
4 days ago
- RTÉ News
Breeding white-tailed eagle dies from suspected poisoning
An investigation is under way following the death of one of Ireland's oldest breeding white-tailed eagles. Caimín was found dead in Co Clare last Saturday and initial post-mortem results from the Regional Veterinary Laboratory indicate poisoning as a possible cause of death. Speaking on RTÉ's Morning Ireland programme, National Parks & Wildlife Service (NPWS) Project Manager for the white-tailed eagle reintroduction project, Eamonn Meskell, said that there has been an increase in poisonings of the birds over the last five years. "We have satellite tags on all of our white-tailed eagle chicks that we release, and we find that when they stop or they become stationary, we will go out and pick them up," he said. "We've lost chicks to carbon fuel and poisoning and rodenticide poisoning, and the initial autopsy shows that (Caimín) likely succumbed to rodenticide poisoning as well." Caimín has held territory at the Mountshannon nest site on Lough Derg since 2008 and during that time, mated and fledged a number of chicks. In 2013, Caimín mated with Saoirse, a female eagle who was also part of the reintroduction programme. They became the first white-tailed eagles to successfully raise and fledge chicks in the wild in Ireland in over 100 years. "That sparked off a really positive thing up in Mountshannon," said Mr Meskell.
