As regular CFZ-watchers will know, for some time Corinna has been doing a column for Animals & Men and a regular segment on On The Track... particularly about out-of-place birds and rare vagrants. There seem to be more and more bird stories from all over the world hitting the news these days so, to make room for them all - and to give them all equal and worthy coverage - she has set up this new blog to cover all things feathery and Fortean.

Tuesday 25 September 2012

Outrage after a Golden eagle is dumped by lay-by and left to die lingering death

Conservationists appalled by eagle death
September 2012. RSPB Scotland has issued an appeal and a reward for information (RSPB is offering a reward of £1000 for information that will assist a successful prosecution), following the discovery of the body of a golden eagle on Deeside. The bird, fitted with a satellite transmitter, was found on 5th May 2012, after signals sent by the transmitter indicated that the bird had not moved for several days.
Found near a lay-by
The body was found, lying face down, with its wings folded, under a tree branch, close to a lay-by on a quiet country road near Aboyne, and was seized as evidence by officers from Grampian police.
Two broken legs from ‘spring trap'
The carcass was then taken for a post mortem at the Scottish Agricultural College laboratory in Aberdeen. This concluded that the bird had suffered two broken legs due to trauma "that could be consistent with an injury caused by a spring type trap" and that the severity of these injuries "would prevent the bird from being able to take off."
Satellite transmitter
The bird had been fitted with a transmitter by RSPB Scotland staff, in full partnership with a local landowner, a few days before it had fledged from a nest in the Monadhliath Mountains, south-east of Inverness, in July 2011. By re-examining the satellite data, RSPB staff discovered the young bird spent its first few months in its natal area before venturing further afield. By April 2012 it was frequenting an area of upper Deeside, before moving south-west into Glenshee.

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