Golden eagle’s disappearance being treated as suspicious

The war against wildlife continues. Not just one bird of prey but a number killed and despite the 'good old gamekeepers' support let's not forget that gamekeepers were behind the extinction of wild cats, foxes, hedgehogs, birds of prey as well as deer (many having to be  imported from Europe to "keep the sports going").

This type of crime needs wiping out and if it means ending the occupation of gamekeeper (they keep game animals for hunting and shooting not conservation) was ever abolished it would help wildlife recovery immensely. Let's see if the culprit in this case is caught (not holding my breath)

 Merrick the golden eagle was transported to southern Scotland last year to boost numbers in the region - South of Scotland Golden Eagle Project

A golden eagle reported missing last month is believed to have come to harm, police have said.

The bird was last seen in the Fountainhall area of the Scottish Borders on Oct 12.

Police Scotland have since said they believe the bird has come to harm and are treating its disappearance as suspicious.

The South of Scotland Golden Eagle Project, a conservation group, expressed “shock, sadness and disappointment” at the bird’s disappearance.

The golden eagle, called Merrick, was translocated from Rottal estate in the Angus Glens to the Scottish Borders in 2022.

It is part of a project to increase the presence of golden eagles in southern Scotland.

Before its disappearance, Merrick was “thriving and exploring all over south of Scotland and Northern England”.

The golden eagle was relocated from the Rottal estate in the Angus Glens in the Cairngorms national park - Gordon Macpherson/PA

Michael Clarke, the chairman of the conservation group, said: “The disappearance of any golden eagle is extremely upsetting, but particularly when there is evidence to suggest that they have come to harm under suspicious circumstances.

“The project’s translocated eagles have captured the hearts and minds of many people, including children, who will all share in our utter shock, disappointment and sadness at the nature of Merrick’s disappearance.

“We’re grateful to Police Scotland for their support and using all the resources at their disposal to establish the full circumstances.”

Det Sgt David Lynn, wildlife crime co-ordinator for Police Scotland, said: “Since the report was made, officers have been working with a range of partner agencies to establish more details and gather further information to establish the circumstances.

“The bird was last seen in the area to the west of Fountainhall, between Heriot and Stow on Thursday, 12 October. A full search of this area was carried out and officers believe the bird has come to harm and are treating its disappearance as suspicious.

“We are determined to protect these magnificent birds. We work closely with a number of partners to tackle wildlife crime, which can be challenging and complex to investigate.”

Alex Hogg, the chairman of the Scottish Gamekeepers Association, said: “The Scottish Gamekeepers Association strongly condemns wildlife crime in all its forms.

“Everyone who has supported the South Scotland Golden Eagle project will be extremely disappointed at this news.

“As an organisation, our support is reflected in the fact that 23 of the project’s 28 donor eaglets have come from gamekeeper-managed estates. We remain proud of that involvement and will continue our support.”

https://uk.yahoo.com/news/disappearance-golden-eagle-being-treated-084045413.html

Otters And It's All About Looking At Local Population Health and Environment

Following on from my seven hour day of trying to get someone to collect a dead otter yesterday I need to make some things clear.

Firstly, I am a mammalogist and mammalogists study the biology of different mammals. They study things like the history, physiology, anatomy, taxonomy, environment and behavior of different mammals. A mammalogist also considers how these animals interact with each other in their natural environment. My main focus since 1976 have been foxes and wild canids as well as mustelids and since 1980 wild cats and feral cats.

The environments these animals inhabit tend to cross-over and so we see diseases, etc. from ticks as well as rats and secondary poisoning and, of course, various types of worms.  It is very important that we know how and why foxes, badgers and otters die -mainly via road traffic but we have found a lot through the Bristol Fox Deaths project under the auspices of the Wildlife Network for Disease Surveillance -I would like to thank all of those involved for the support in finding out what we have so far.

I consider any study of wildlife important and the Cardiff University Otter Project is an important one. Their work is focussed on a particular aspect and I was surprised to learn that very few diagnostic post mortems of otters  exist. A month or so back an otter from the North of England was due to be sent to Cardiff but it was suggested that the carcass be diverted to Bristol for a diagnostic post mortem. Cardiff agreed. Not only would Cardiff get a post mortem report but also the samples it required for its work so everyone gets what they need and adds to our knowledge of wild otters.

When I announced this it seems that I was seen as interfering and robbing Cardiff of its research subjects even though I stated Cardiff had agreed to this and why. In fact the backlash was a bit nasty and when I asked what problems had been created I was greeted with silence.

We have the Greater Bristol Otter Group and I believe some thought I ought to keep my nose out of other peoples business. I was 'interfering' in fact. Why and how I do not know because an otter from the North of England is a little far out to be labelled "Greater Bristol". On two other occasions I was alerted to dead otters and informed the GBOG and offered to ask Bristol PM to carry out post mortems but was told any otters went to Cardiff.

I do not interfere with another group but as I record badger and fox deaths in Bristol any large mammal found dead is usually reported to me.  We have the problem that people will report anything dead to Bristol City Council which does not cooperate on wildlife projects and their response is to pick up dead animals for incineration so any valuable information we could have gotten from the sad deaths is lost. My urgency yesterday was because another dead otter was picked up by the council street clean team around two weeks ago. It is possible that there have been other occasions.

My main intention is to ensure that the otter group gets the information it wants, Cardiff gets the samples it needs and Bristol gets to perform a diagnostic post mortem. Everyone is happy and the research continues.

The big problem is to find people who can pick up any dead otter quickly and store it until someone can transport it to the Bristol PM labs -ideally the same person from pick-up to hand off.  This is the biggest hurdle as not many people want to handle dead animals and often the days they are needed are likely to be when they cannot get away due to other commitments -hence needing a couple of people on call at least.

So there you have it. A long-winded but straight forward explanation. Not me interfering but trying to see that the maximum information is gained from every animal that sadly dies on the roads or "cause unknown". Whether a fox, badger, wild/feral cat or otter they are all part of the same small ecosystem and learning from one species may well help all the others.

 

The Truth About UK Species Eradication -It's Nothing New

 Perthshire Courier - Thursday 18 February 1841

The print from the period is hard to read so...

11       foxes

198    Wild Cats

246    Martin cats

106    Polecats

301    Stots and Weasels

67      Badgers

48      Otters

78      House Cats, going wild

27      White tailed Sea Eagles

15      Golden Eagles

18      Osprey, or Fishing Eagles

98      Blue Hawks, or Peregrine Falcons

11      Hobby Hawks

275    Kites, commonly called salmon-Tailed Gledes

5        Marsh Harriers, or Yellow-Legged Hawks

63      Gos Hawks

285    Common Buzzards

371    Rough-Legged Buzzards

3        Honey Buzzards

462    Kestrels, or Red Hawks

78      Merlin Hawks

83      Hen Harriers, or Ring-tailed Hawks

6        Jer Falcon Tag-feathered Hawks

9        Ash-coloured Hawks or Long Blue-tailed do

1431  Hooded or Carrion Crows

475    Ravens

35      Horned Owls

71     Common Fern Owls

3       Golden Owls

8       Magpies

And this was great work carried out to clear things for grouse hunting. The eradication of one species after another and this was going on in every other hunting territory. Anything not wanted was called by the hunting term “vermin” and killed.

By the 1860s the Old fox types were gone (note only 1 foxes killed on the above list imp[lying they were rare) as were the wild cats -note almost 200 killed on this estate which would have been adults as well as kittens. In fact in accounts from the 1830s it was noted that Golden Eagles were very rare as were wild cats and foxes were getting scarcer and the red squirrel was wiped out -they are not even listed here.

As for domestic cats “gone wild” it needs to be pointed out that there was an “in joke” about how game keepers always had the “best fertiliser” for their fruit and vegetable patches -domestic cats and dogs that wandered within shooting range of a game keeper were shot and disposed of pet dogs wandering a few feet from owners and off-the-lead were openly shot in front of the owners who could do little. So for a bounty on every animal and a race to se who could kill more on every straying pet was money in the pocket.

Despite noting all of the species declining and becoming rarer the ‘sports’ of the day still killed after all they could import more squirrels, more deer, more hares, thousands more foxes and even wild cats so they had a good hunt and shoot.

I would like to write that this was all in the past but it is not. A quarter million badgers slaughtered over fake science as recognised by many and not just in the UK. Red squirrels in commercial forestry are still trapped, snared and shot and hundreds of foxes are shot ‘for fun’ each week across the UK by ‘sportsmen’. Re-introduced birds of prey are still being killed as are hedgehogs in game-bird areas.

Oh, and this is all information from online news sources or sites and the great British ‘animal loving’ public sit back but, just one “lonely sheep” and thousands (undoubtedly many meat eaters) kick up a fuss until something is done.

The UK -The Blood Red Island

Firework Incidents & Evidence

 https://www.facebook.com/groups/fireworkevidence

250,000 badgers killed. Hundreds of foxes killed each week -no interest. One "lonely sheep" and 52,000 People yell!

  One sheep doing very well and that put on weight and was not in any danger got into the news because "it's lonely" -yes, the SSPCA sat on their asses until private people rescued the sheep and then stepped in for the publicity -its what the RSPCA and SSCPA do

A petition calling for a rescue operation gathered more than 52,000 signatures.

Yes, 52,000 people managed to work their pizza stained fingers to sign that petition. It was a struggle to get anywhere near the 30,000 signatures needed to stop snaring or to protect foxes which took 2 years. 

Over half the badger population in the UK has been wiped out based on a 'scientific' nonsense. The badgers may struggle to survive in the future as a pro hunt government has decided to kill more (costing the public millions and that 250,000 killed badgers figure may be untrue and the number is likely higher). Where the ****** hell are those members of the public protesting and signing petitions to stop this? Oh, it wasn't a "lonely sheep". We have a fox population dropping in numbers buy the year and they could face another extinction event and yet does anyone protest about the hundreds of adult and cubs killed monthly by shooters as 'fun' and 'sport'?

So the great British public of alleged animal lovers will allow slaughter of foxes and badgers  but yell for a "lonely sheep" to be rescued.

The United Kingdom.; The Red or Blood Island

An animal welfare charity had previously said any attempts to rescue her would be “incredibly complex”.

However, a group of five men managed to haul her up a steep slope and said she remained in excellent health. They plan to shear her overgrown fleece before handing her over to a farm park.

The rescue mission was organised by Cammy Wilson, a sheep shearer from Ayrshire, after seeing media coverage of the ewe’s plight.

Mr Wilson, who is a presenter on the BBC’s Landward programme, organised the rescue in a personal capacity along with four others.

Speaking in the video posted on Facebook, he said: “We’ve come up here with some heavy equipment and we’ve got this sheep up an incredibly steep slope.

“She’s in incredible condition. She is about a condition score of about 4.5. She is overfat - it was some job lifting her up that slope.

“She is going to a very special place that a lot of you know very well, where you’ll be able to see her virtually every day.”

The marooned sheep was first spotted by a kayaker in 2021 - Cammy Wilson/Facebook

The Scottish SPCA said they had been aware of the ewe being stranded at the bottom of the cliff for some time but were unable to find a safe way to rescue her.

A spokesperson for the charity said: “This morning the Scottish SPCA [Society for the Protection of Animals] were in attendance at the hillside after they were made aware that a group of individuals with climbing expertise were attempting to rescue the stranded sheep by descending down to where she was trapped.

“The team brought the ewe up successfully and our inspector examined her.

“Thankfully, the sheep is in good bodily condition, aside from needing to be sheared. She will now be taken to a specialist home within Scotland to rest and recover.”

The sheep made national headlines after a kayaker took a photograph of her and shared concerns about her welfare.