White-tailed Eagles found dead on shooting estates in southern England
Two White-tailed Eagles have been found dead in suspicious circumstances during multi-agency raids on the estates in Dorset and Sussex. Both birds were from the Isle of Wight reintroduction project.
One of the birds was found in Dorset in January and the other is believed to have been found in Sussex in October. Dorset Police have released the following statement: “Sadly, two of the Sea Eagle England Isle of Wight reintroduced white-tailed eagles have recently been recovered dead on multi-agency operations in the south of England including one in Dorset in late January. An investigation is underway to ascertain the causes of death of both birds, who are undergoing post mortem and toxicological examination. These birds are extremely rare and we ask the public to be vigilant and to report any information they may have relating to the death of these birds to the Dorset Police.”
Despite the request for information neither Dorset or Sussex have disclosed the exact locations of where the birds were found. They have not answered calls to divulge this information or to explain why they have chosen not to give the locations.
In a further twist Dorset Conservative MP, Chris Loder, responded to the news by calling on the police not to investigate the potential crimes. Tweeting on Thursday he said “I don’t want condone this at all, but I want Dorset Police to focus on county lines rather than spend time and resources on this.” He added that “Dorset is not the place for eagles to be reintroduced” despite there having been no reintroductions in Dorset.
He went on to post a link to an article showing a captive White-tailed Eagle eating a lamb, and said he doesn’t want eagles in “Dorset killing our lambs and plaguing our farmer”. The photographer of the images pointed out to him that the photos in the piece were taken for a separate project and misused by the newspaper.
His comments brought widescale condemnation and a response from the Dorset Rural Crime Team who are investigating one of the eagle deaths. Writing on Twitter they said “Hi @chrisloder we are a specialist small team of 3 PCs focusing on rural #organisedcrime targeting farms & plant, #OCGs #WildlifeCrime & #HeritageCrime. In my 17 years service I've not claimed anytime for 1000s hrs of staying on or on my days off to deal with #Wildlife cases.
“A Sgt totted up all my unclaimed hours in last few years =£25K. Didn't claim a penny. I've run courses for staff in house saving thousands. Some past raptor cases in UK had insecure loaded firearms located. Insecure firearms can & have been stolen & used in crime. #WCOs volunteer”.
Conservative peer and minister at DEFRA replied to Chris Loder saying ” a) this is nothing to do with where these magnificent birds are released (it was Isle of Wight btw, not Dorset), b) if this was a crime it SHOULD be investigated and the criminal punished and c) (exasperated sigh!)Police can do 2 things at once. Really they can!”
In the last few days Dr.Ruth Tingay from Raptor Persecution UK wrote a series of blogs about the eagle deaths speculating as to the possible motives for Mr Loder’s decision to call on the police not to investigate the potential crimes.
She wrote “I’d speculated yesterday that perhaps Chris Loder’s dissatisfaction that Dorset Police’s time and resources were being put towards an investigation into the suspicious death of the sea eagle might have something to do with the fact that the Conservatives have received substantial local party donations, over a number of years, from a prominent Dorset estate that just happens to be owned by a very wealthy landowner who appears to be part of the hunting set and whose spouse appears to have played a prominent role with the Countryside Alliance (here).”
“That may well be part of the story, but it’s also clear from his posts last night and from online information about his farming background that he’s susceptible to, and believes in, the anti-eagle propaganda routinely pumped out by the National Farmers Union, an organisation who refused, formally, to support the Isle of Wight Eagle Reintroduction Project because of a perceived fear of the impact the eagles would have on livestock, despite extensive consultation and evidence-based assurances by the project team that live sheep would not be at high risk. [But note that not all farmers agreed with the NFU’s stance and a number are supportive of the project].”
“This morning I’ve been sent some more information that suggests Chris Loder’s position may also be influenced by his family’s farming connections. Detailed research undertaken by Guy Shrubsole (author of the brilliant website Who Owns England) has revealed that Chris Loder’s family appears to run a tenanted farm on a large Dorset estate (a different estate to the one that’s been making donations to the local Conservative party) and on that estate there’s also a sizeable pheasant shoot.”
“And as interesting as this all is, I think it’s also a distraction from the main topic of interest here, and that is, when are we going to see the toxicology report of the dead eagle found on a game-shooting estate in Dorset in January and the dead eagle found on a game-shooting estate in Sussex last October?”
14 February 2022
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