A National Disgrace

Conservation Manager, Stuart Benn, reflects on the discovery of a dead golden eagle earlier this year.

A National Disgrace

Take a look at this bird.  It is now dead.

The video was taken on 23 June 2011 when we were fitting a satellite tag to this golden eagle chick at its nest high in the hills above Loch Ness.  It took its first flight on 20 July and, from time to time during that summer and autumn, I’d take a walk up the glen to see how it was getting on.  As often as not I’d see it flying around with its parents, learning the ropes, finding out all the things that an eagle needs to know.

The GPS signals allowed me to keep an eye on it and, as the winter progressed it began to range a little further away from the glen it was born in but it would keep coming back to where it knew.  Finally, on 10 February this year it left home – it was on its own. I followed its progress throughout the spring as it ranged round various parts of the Scottish Highlands and all was well until early May when I could tell from the signals that the bird was dead.

The facts of the case have been well reported and can be read here.  In short, the bird was at the same location for 15 hours then shifted 15 kilometres in the dark with two broken legs to a spot under a tree where it died several days later.  Now, you either have to believe a frankly improbable series of events or come to the conclusion that this young eagle died as a result of a crime.  It’s clear which version the Scottish Environment Minister, Paul Wheelhouse, believes as he tweeted “Absolutely appalling – disgusted with whoever did this”.

This week’s Scottish Farmer reports the incident under the bold headline “Game gets the blame”.  It says that Scottish Land and Estates condemn the killing but that they are also calling for further examination of the evidence before conclusions are reached.  The SF article also quotes the Scottish Gamekeepers Association which has decided to open its own inquiry as it believes that the case is far from clear cut.

I can’t wait to learn what these other inquiries conclude but, in the meantime, what I find most interesting about all of this is that at no point in the RSPB’s press release did it mention anything about gamekeepers, game shooting or land ownership. 

Anyway, let’s not forget the dead young eagle with its two broken legs.  Unfortunately, it hadn’t found out all the things that an eagle needs to know – it hadn’t learned how to avoid areas where eagles aren’t tolerated.

Over the next few months, young eagles from all over Scotland will be heading off from where they were born.  They could end up as magnificent icons of the Scottish Highlands which provide one of the most memorable moments in somebody’s life or they could end up as a sad corpse with broken legs or a body full of poison.  Which one of those it is depends upon the willingness of society, the legal system and the Government to deal with those who show a complete disregard for the law.

No doubt those that kill eagles feel their legitimate enterprises bring some wider economic benefit.  Tourism is worth £4 billion pounds per year to Scotland.  The reputation of a country is incalculable.