Here's What Killed 13 Bald Eagles ... and Their Raccoon Dinner

By Laura Geggel, Senior Writer | June 22, 2018 09:23am ET

Wildlife experts have partially solved a murder mystery regarding the deaths of 13 bald eagles, but they still don't know who did it.

The 13 eagles — including some so young, they hadn't yet grown their iconic white head feathers — were poisoned with a deadly pesticide known as carbofuran, according to a six-month investigation first reported by Maryland radio station WNAV.

Carbofuran is highly toxic — just one granule of it can kill a small bird, according to the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) banned the use of liquid carbofuran in food crops in 2009, but many people still likely have aging containers of the pesticide in their sheds, Karyn Bischoff, a toxicologist at Cornell University's Animal Health Diagnostic Center, told The Washington Post. [Photos: Bald Eagles of the Mighty Mississippi]

The 13 dead bald eagles (Haliaeetus leucocephalus) were first discovered by a man looking for deer antlers on Maryland's eastern shore in February 2016. After finding four of the dead birds, the man called the Maryland Natural Resources Police, who later found nine more when they came out to investigate the site in Federalsburg, The Washington Post reported.

The bald eagle is a federally protected bird, and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service spent the following six months investigating the birds' deaths, interviewing more than a dozen landowners and property managers near the scene of the crime. But "there was no smoking gun," John LaCorte, a special agent with the Fish and Wildlife Service, told The Washington Post. "It's very frustrating."

Carbofuran once killed up to 2 million birds each year, according to the EPA. The pellet form of the pesticide, which looks like grain seeds, was banned in the mid-1990s, when bald eagles were still on the endangered species list.

Read on  

Mass poisoning of vultures in KwaZulu-Natal

49 vultures killed with carbofuran

July 2013. On the afternoon of the 15th of July 2013 an Ezemvelo KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) Wildlife light aircraft spotted a large number of vultures lying on the ground on New Hope farm, in Swartberg, during a routine game count. Ezemvelo KZN alerted the Endangered Wildlife Trust (EWT) and the African Birds of Prey Sanctuary (ABoPS), and the two NGOs visited the site early the next morning.

49 dead vultures

Upon arrival they were greeted by the grizzly sight of the carcasses of more than 48 Cape Vultures and one African White-backed Vulture. Two Cape Vultures were found alive and were treated for poisoning by staff of the ABoPS. Both have fortunately responded to treatment and are expected to make a full recovery.

Poisoned sheep carcasses - Carbofuran used

"Several sheep carcasses found on site are suspected of being intentionally poisoned in order to control jackal predation on new-born lambs. These carcasses, as well as samples from the crop and stomach contents of the dead vultures, were collected and sent to a laboratory for analysis. The subsequent results clearly demonstrate the use of a poison called Carbofuran in the baited carcasses. Carbofuran is a pesticide poison commonly used for destroying worms in crops. This is the worst incident of vulture poisoning in KZN that I have seen in the 12 years I have been working with birds of prey in the province," said Ben Hoffman of Raptor Rescue, the dedicated bird of prey hospital located at the African Bird of Prey Sanctuary.

Continued

‘Vicious’ gamekeeper convicted of poisoning buzzards

Buzzards are still being persecuted in some areas.

Carbofuran poison used again
January 2013. A Lincolnshire gamekeeper has been convicted of killing two buzzards and possessing a quantity of an illegally-held poison, which the RSPB says would have been enough to destroy all the birds of prey in Lincolnshire.

Carbofuran
71-year-old Robert William Hebblewhite, of Appleby, Scunthorpe, was fined a total £1950 after he was convicted of killing two buzzards and possessing Carbofuran, a banned poison. The buzzards were found dead on land at Blyton, where he works as a gamekeeper. Toxicology tests revealed the birds had died from Carbofuran poisoning after the poison was laced on pheasant carcasses which the buzzards tried to feed on.

‘Vicious' methods
In court Hebblewhite heard the judge describe him as an ‘old-fashioned' gamekeeper who resorted to ‘vicious' methods. The judge regretted the death of the two buzzards but added that it was ‘lucky' that no other creature or human had discovered the poisoned baits first.

Hebblewhite had pleaded guilty to possessing Carbofuran at an earlier hearing on 15 October, 2012.

The RSPB's Mark Thomas, who was at Lincoln Magistrates Court for the conviction, said: "The possession and use of Carbofuran is illegal, and yet birds of prey are still being killed by this poison. This conviction shows this poison is still in circulation in quantities sufficient to kill huge numbers of birds of prey. A few grains of the poison will kill a bird of prey; a jar is enough to kill all the birds of prey in a county. With yet another gamekeeper convicted of poisoning birds of prey, it is time for this illegal and indiscriminate practise to be consigned to the pages of history."

Read on:  http://www.wildlifeextra.com/go/news/gamekeeper-carbofuran.html

Bird of prey poisonings highlighted by MPs

Hundreds of birds of prey are deliberately killed each year with poisons that have no legal use, according to MPs.

The Environmental Audit Committee says confusion over wildlife laws means criminals often escape unpunished.

It is particularly worried about carbofuran, a chemical used by rogue gamekeepers to kill raptors.

A Defra spokesman said it had banned possession of the chemical, but the MPs insist that it has not.

The chemical is devastatingly toxic to birds. A gamekeeper in Skibo, Scotland, convicted of poisoning birds in 2011, was found to have possessed 10kg of the chemical - enough to kill every raptor in the UK by breaking down its nervous system.

The committee learned that there had been 633 reported cases of poisoning of birds of prey, of which half involved carbofuran.

Read more: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-19982884