White-tailed eagle shooting condemned

Working together, the NPWS, Regional Veterinary Laboratories (DAFM), and the State Laboratory introduced a formal protocol for investigating Irish bird of prey deaths in 2011

One of the resident adult white-tailed eagles on Lough Lein at Killarney National Park. Picture: Valerie O'Sullivan / NPWS

The shooting dead of a two-year-old female white-tailed eagle at Lough Owel, near Mullingar in Co Westmeath last month shocked nature lovers countrywide and was widely condemned as a deplorable act.

It was particularly regretted in the Shannon Estuary, where she was released in 2022 as part of a re-introduction programme for the endangered species by the National Parks and Wildlife Service in partnership with the Norwegian Institute for Nature Research.