Owner of golden eagle appeals for help as bird goes missing in Wicklow

John Nugent says 12-year-old Kalin went missing on Wednesday last week after he managed to untie his leash and fly off. Picture: John Nugent / Facebook

The owner of a golden eagle lost in Co Wicklow is appealing for help in finding the missing bird, which he says is unlikely to survive in the wild.

John Nugent says 12-year-old Kalin went missing on Wednesday last week after he managed to untie his leash and fly off.

Mr Nugent, who owns two eagles, Kalin and an American bald eagle, says that when he's training with his birds they are usually wearing a GPS tracker, however on the day that Kalin flew away, the golden eagle did not have the tracker because he was "resting".

Mr Nugent says he had been training Kalin since last November to rehabilitate him so he could eventually fly free.

He told Newstalk that he is concerned the eagle may not be able to adapt to the wild yet.

"The bird has never hunted wild, so it's never known to kill or do anything like that, so there's no danger for him killing animals.

"The danger is...he might get caught in a tree, so we reckon Kalin is now looking for me as much as I'm looking for him."

Mr Nugent believes that Kalin must be within 5km of his home in Co Wicklow.

He told the Irish Times: “This bird is not fit, I had him flying 50, 100 feet at a time.” Mr Nugent added: “He’s never been out in the wild, he eats chicken legs from the supermarket … My biggest fear to be honest is someone shoots him."

He said he hopes searches for the bird will eventually bear fruit.

He said: "I had a sighting of him recently and we're tracing it up at the moment, but we haven't seen him.

"We've been up every day, I walk the grounds every day where Kalin took off, and I'm hoping he's just going to come out of the tree one day and say "howya"."