RSPB Scotland has today (9th October 2012) condemned the shooting of a golden eagle, found barely alive, by a walker in Dumfriesshire.
The bird was discovered on Saturday 6th October on a grouse moor near Wanlockhead, close to the Southern Upland Way. However, it is not clear precisely where the shooting occurred.
The eagle, an adult male, was recovered by Scottish SPCA inspectors and is undergoing treatment at its new rehabilitation centre near Alloa.
Examination by vets showed shotgun pellets had caused injuries to the tail muscles and one wing. The bird also had extensive feather damage, suggesting it had been floundering on the ground for some time and had not been able to feed. It is too early to tell whether the bird will recover.
Stuart Housden, Director of RSPB Scotland says: ‘With one golden eagle already found poisoned this year and a second bird the apparent victim of an illegal trap, this is yet another appalling incident. Whoever pulled the trigger must have deliberately targeted one of our most iconic birds, with lethal intentions.
‘Whoever it was has access to a shotgun, and the confidence to use it in this area. Much has been made of an apparent recent decline in the illegal poisoning of Scotland’s birds of prey, but this, and other recent criminal incidents, show that efforts to stamp out the illegal persecution of strictly protected wildlife have a considerable way to go.’
What possesses man to blow any bird for that matter out of the sky. The fact that it is a protected bird of prey and illegal to do so is missing the point. All birds large and small should be left to exist just as we do free to live their lives as nature dictates. What is just as imbecilic is the lust for blood by individuals who gain enjoyment from pointing a double barrel shotgun at petrified pheasants being chased from the natural habitats by hounds only to then be blown out of the sky, great fun! hoorah! Its high time this so called sport or tradition is classified along similar stomach churning sports as bull fighting and fox hunting to name a few. Those involved in any of these acts should take a long hard look at themselves and what this teaches the young in our society regarding respecting living creatures, shame.
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Oh wind your neck in Jnr Tick, the issue here is that some imbecile shot an eagle, which is utterly reprehensible and the miscreant must be caught and punished. Don’t use this sad story as a rant against law abiding citizens, even if some of us would question their motives.
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Yes Mel Gibson shooting an eagle is ‘utterly reprehensible’ just as shooting any bird is. Just because there is an abundance of one breed of bird and not of another does not make the act of blasting it out of the sky any less vulgar, even more so given the gratification these morons get from doing so. By the way, MG, I will continue to ‘rant’ as you put it, I prefer to call it expressing an opinion, for as long as the glorious 12th continues, fox hunting continues, shooting eagles and other birds of prey continues, badger baiting continues and so on. Why? because not until these repugnant hobbies, sports, leisure activities, call them what you will without cherry picking, are collectively recognised for what they precisely are, utterly abhorent barbaric acts of gratuitous cruelty. Regrettably people such as yourself would appear to villify those who take the lives of endangered birds or animals because it is illegal rather than having a complete lack of value/worth on our wildlife. I once remember stumbling across a couple of boys my age when I was in my early teens, near woodland, who had an air rifle, giggling away at the sight of the dove who’s life they had just taken, spinning to the ground from where it was perched, not the finest sight. This I had since found out was almost certainly learned as their parents enjoyed similar ‘fun times’ with another beautiful species of bird, pheasant, except they called it field sports.
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Glad you agree with me in finding my story sad MG, pity the perpetrators of these abhorent acts do not concur.
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I live in the area in question and I can along with everyone else confirm, it’s the game keepers. They are employed to protect the grouse.
They kill all the birds of prey, these birds SHOULD be seen in abundance but sadly are not.
We have complained non stop, people have campaigned tirelessly but still it continues to happen. Americans lease the land off Hopetoun Estates.
We are intimidated from going onto the hills by the gamekeepers using their animals as weapons and bridleways padlocked .
Maybe this will make people sit up and take notice!,
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Yes, It’s high time the government banned all blood sports in Scotland. The laird’s Lachies, aka the gamekeepers, are guilty of destroying some of our most fantastic wildlife and their habitats . Indiscriminate poisoning, cruel traps, night vision goggles to shoot roosting hen harriers, the old trick of bags of ice cubes on top of the eggs are the methods used to destroy our birds of prey. Land Reform, together with criminal convictions of the landlords will hopefully stop all these illegal activities , and as equally important , stop all their “legal” shooting of all the other poor unfortunate birds.
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