RSPB: New evidence reveals techniques criminal bird killers use to avoid being caught in Scotland
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The satellite tag from a rare golden eagle that suddenly disappeared on a Highland grouse moor in 2016 has been discovered nearby - wrapped in heavy lead sheeting.
The object, which has been examined by police forensics experts, was spotted by a walker on the banks of the River Braan, in Perth and Kinross, in May this year.
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Hide AdThe bird it was fitted to has not been traced since the tag stopped transmitting suddenly in 2016 - just a few miles away from where it was eventually found.
Officials at the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) say the discovery is evidence of the lengths raptor killers will go to to conceal their crimes.
Ian Thomson, RSPB Scotland’s Head of Investigations said: “This young eagle was killed illegally.
“The tag was clearly removed from the bird, its antenna was cut off, and the tag was then wrapped in a piece of lead sheeting, presumably because the perpetrator thought this would stop it transmitting.
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Hide Ad“The package was then cast into the river, never to be seen again. Or so they thought.
“However, now we know the truth,” he added.
“It is not unreasonable to conclude that the vast majority of other birds of prey and their tags that have disappeared on Scotland’s grouse moors have suffered similar fates.”
Duncan Orr-Ewing, RSPB Scotland’s Head of Species and Land Management, said the discovery destroyed “any pretence that the grouse shooting industry is able to self-regulate, even during a national pandemic.”
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