Hen harrier may have been killed by snipe hunters

Gardaí investigating the shooting dead of a two-year-old hen harrier in Co Kerry do not believe the bird was deliberately targeted.

They suspect it was brought down by a leisure shooting party involved in duck, woodcock, or snipe shooting.

Heather the harrier was the subject of a joint project between the National Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS) and the development body IRD Duhallow and had been tracked in her travels by satellite.