Ocean Sentry
(From guardian.co.uk)- Police are investigating the deaths of a sea eagle and a buzzard after more than 30 pieces of poisoned meat and a dead hare with poison on it were found on neighbouring estates in Tayside.The dead birds of prey were discovered close to the boundary of the Glenquiech and Glenogil estates in Angus earlier this year. Both birds had ingested a lethal and unusual cocktail of highly toxic pesticides, the Guardian can reveal. Police and wildlife crime investigators found 32 cubes of venison on fence posts on the Glenogil estate, and the butchered body of a mountain hare close by on the Glenquiech estate.
The Scottish government’s agricultural science laboratory has revealed that the pieces of venison, which the police suspect were bait, contained three pesticides, two of which were also found in the dead birds of prey.
The sea eagle was discovered on May 4 this year by the landowner, Richard de Klee, by a small wood close to his house at Glenquiech, roughly 700 metres from its boundary with Glenogil. The bird had been hatched on Mull as part of a government-funded reintroduction programme and De Klee recognised its white identification tags.
(By Severin Carrell)
