Reintroducing wildlife - Sustainability on wings and a prayer

YESTERDAY’s reintroduction of about a dozen white-tailed eagles to the national park in Killarney is a thoroughly welcome attempt to undo some of the damage inflicted by man on some of the other species that inhabit the planet.

White-tailed eagles survived in Mayo and Kerry until 1898, golden eagles lasted for another decade before they were shot or poisoned to extinction.

More than a century later, in 2001, six Scottish golden eagle chicks were released in Donegal’s Glenveagh National Park and 40 more youngsters have joined them since. Last year, eggs were laid but did not hatch; this year, a chick was born. A similar project focusing on the red kite is under way in Wicklow.