A young peregrine falcon believed to have been on one of its first flights was found shot, environmental chiefs have said.

Game hunters say they are outraged about the shooting of a peregrine falcon in Co Wexford.

A battle to keep Coillte in public ownership has stepped up a gear as a cross-section of interest groups called on the Government not to sell the asset.

AN old friend from days working in the bog long ago was recently talking with us about the disappearing curlew, whose evocative ‘cur..lee cur..lee’ cry hasn’t been heard for years.

WEARERS of luxury mink coats once saw themselves at the height of fashion, but mink has now become a pest and a plague on other wildlife.

Garda Commissioner Martin Callinan has been asked for a report on gun licensing practices by senior officers in the force, Justice Minister Alan Shatter has revealed.

A number of legal challenges brought by shooting enthusiasts against refusals by gardaí to issue the gun owners with certificates for restricted firearms, has commenced before the High Court.

SPORTS people who use handguns have given a qualified welcome to a “handguns ban” announced by the Government yesterday.

AS the reporter who compiled RTÉ's Prime Time report on May 20 on a recent High Court case concerning the firearms legislation in Ireland, I would like to respond to Mark Dennehy’s letter (June 2), which criticised it.

GARDAÍ in Wicklow are investigating the shooting dead of a red kite — one of just 30 in the country who were released last month as part of a reintroduction programme of the species.

THE mean spiritedness and ignorance shown by the person who shot and killed one of the 30 red kites reintroduced to Wicklow almost six weeks ago is so staggering that it brings shame on us all.

THERE are no signs that the killer disease myxomatosis is on the increase among Ireland’s rabbit population.

I WAS disgusted by your coverage of the 33 people murdered in Virginia — the bodies barely cold and people already using their deaths for political ends.

LEGAL gun owners are not to blame for tragedies such as the shooting rampage in Virginia, Irish firearms representatives said yesterday.

A HUNTING organisation has initiated legal action against the Environment Minister for failing to properly conserve the birds which they want to shoot.

IRELAND has several species of wild chicken. The pheasant is the most successful of them, but it’s not really an Irish bird.

A BIRD flu epidemic could kill as many as 10,000 people in Ireland, according to Department of Health figures.

Minister for the Environment Dick Roche has rejected attempts by gun clubs to gain access to protected nature reserves, according to the Irish Council Against Blood Sports.

PROPOSED changes to firearms legislation could impede farmers’ use of legally held shotguns to scare off marauding dogs threatening their sheep flocks.

JUSTICE Minister Michael McDowell has been accused of misleading the Dáil over claims he met with representatives of shooting organisations to discuss amendments to firearms legislation.

A CELEBRATION of the rural way of life and field sports was how organisers described a weekend countryside festival at Clonmel Racecourse in Co Tipperary.

ENVIRONMENT Minister Martin Cullen’s failure to lift a shooting ban on State lands will cost the Government almost 118,000 votes in the EU and local elections, a sports’ body has warned.

A LOBBY group yesterday impressed on TDs from a number of parties the importance of traditional sports, such as angling, coursing and shooting in rural life.

THE recent alignment of the National Association of Regional Game Councils (NARGC) and the UK-based Countryside Alliance has created the mother of all splits in Ireland’s bloodsports community.