The National Parks and Wildlife Service is seeking information relating to a White-tailed Eagle found dead on lands near Lough Ramar in County Cavan.
The eagle, part of a national re-introduction programme was found to have been killed by ingesting poison used as a 'pest control'.
The National Parks and Wildlife Service is also urging people to be aware that the use of poisonous substances for the control of species such as foxes and crows is illegal and has been since 2010.
The healthy juvenile male White-tailed eagle - just over a year old - had been brought in as a chick in 2021 from Norway under phase two of a national re-introduction programme.
Fitted with a small satellite tag prior to its release on Lough Derg in 2021 the bird had been largely spending time around Lough Sheelin in County Westmeath and neighbouring counties and seemed to have settled into its new surroundings.
A further two White-tailed eagles have been observed in the general Westmeath area since April of last year. Reaching maturity at around five years old, these young eagles will hopefully survive to strengthen the small Irish breeding population that has become established since the reintroduction programme began in 2007.
The National Parks and Wildlife Service was delighted that three of these birds had chosen Westmeath as their new home, and their movements were being monitored, until the tag from the juvenile male White-tailed eagle indicated it was in the one spot in Cavan for a troubling length of time.
A local ranger collected the bird's body on agricultural land in Cavan and following a range of tests confirmed it had been poisoned with an illegal substance, known as Carbofuran.
Anyone with information on the matter is asked to contact NPWS at 01-5393156. These matters will be treated confidentially. Alternatively, information can be supplied to An Garda Síochana.
