Farmers threaten to kill eagles to protect livestock

FARMERS have threatened to shoot the white-tailed eagle if it attacks livestock after its re-introduction to Kerry in May.

The Irish Farmers’ Association (IFA) said last night that it hoped farmers would obey the law and not harm the protected bird of prey.

“But farmers will not stand by if livestock is threatened,” said Florence McCarthy, chairman of the IFA’s Rural Development Committee in Kerry.

James Doyle, who represents farmers on the South West Regional Fisheries’ Board, criticised the lack of consultation with farmers at the board’s monthly meeting in Macroom this week.

“There was no consultation with the people who might be most affected,” he said.

“They (the eagles) were wiped out 100 years ago for good reason because they were interfering with agricultural practice and this will have to be done again,” Mr Doyle said.

The South Western Regional Fisheries Board reserved its position on the re-introduction to the National Park in Killarney.

Members said they wanted detailed information on the birds’ impact on salmon and trout.

Chairperson Ellen Godfrey said if the sea eagle was found to eat live fish, then the board would not endorse its re-introduction.

The white-tailed eagle is the world’s fourth largest bird of prey, larger than the golden eagle, and feeds mainly on carrion or fish.

Killarney’s wetlands were a key factor in the decision to release the sea eagle there, experts from the Golden eagle Trust told a meeting of the IFA in Killarney earlier this week.

The trust successfully introduced the species to Donegal and the northwest six years ago. The bird is expected to spread to west Cork following its planned release in Kerry.

Mr McCarthy said that at an IFA meeting in Killarney earlier this week, just one farmer out of 200 attendees supported the move.

The fisheries board, already under pressure because of new salmon conservation measures, said it will need to find out how many salmon it will take before rowing in behind the project.

“Can we find out from the wildlife service the amount of salmon we have to provide for them from our quotas?” chief executive Aidan Barry quipped during a lively discussion.

Forty years ago the board could never have imagined the numbers of cormorants now on the rivers when protection for them was introduced, board member John Harte observed.

Cormorants eat hundreds of young salmon and are now in great numbers in the south east.

“There is no guarantee these eagles will all go out to sea — in fact many may come back inland, ” Mr Harte said.