Regulations aim to prevent poison attacks on birds of prey

NEW regulations have been announced to stop the illegal poisoning of birds of prey and other animals with meat baits.

The joint action by Environment Minister John Gormley and Agriculture Minister Brendan Smith arises from the poisoning of 12 eagles and other birds earlier this year.

The regulations, under the European Communities Acts, will make it an offence to use any type of meat, fish, egg or other animal substance as bait to poison or stupefy birds or animals such as otters and pine martens, unless licensed to do so.

There are no poisons which can legally be used to kill birds or animals, apart from rats and mice.

Maximum penalties for breaches of the regulations include a €5,000 fine, or a 12-month prison sentence, or both.

The poisoning of birds – mainly by the banned substance alphachloralose – is undermining conservation projects to reintroduce eagles to Kerry and Donegal and red kites to Co Wicklow.

“Such actions are irresponsible as well as illegal and they give a very negative image of Ireland’s farming and tourism sectors, nationally and internationally,” said Mr Gormley.

Acknowledging foxes, mink and crows could be a serious problem for farmers, he stressed there was a variety of effective methods available to keep numbers in check.

But, the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food has pointed out there is no pesticide registered or approved in the Republic for poisoning of birds or foxes.

Alphachloralose, which was commonly used to kill crows, was banned in line with an EU decision, in November 2008. It is now only registered and approved in Ireland for the control of mice. Therefore, any poisoning of foxes and crows is illegal.

The ministers said there was general agreement at ground level that the poisoning of birds of prey was the work of a very limited number of people.

Both departments were conscious of the high level of support from the general public, including the farming community, for the re-introduction projects, they added. The ministers called for poisoning of these birds of prey to cease once and for all.

Both the Scottish and Norwegian Governments, which licence the capture of eagles in their countries for release in Ireland, have expressed grave concern at the poisonings.

Mr Smith, meanwhile, has asked people who need to control rats and mice to be very careful while using poisons as there was a risk that birds such as barn owls could be accidentally killed if they ate a rat that had already eaten poison.