An eagle was found dead in Austria. An investigation revealed that the animal had apparently been poisoned.
Another imperial eagle was found dead in Austria. As the animal welfare organization “BirdLife” announced in a press release, the animal was apparently poisoned by a pesticide. The organization is now asking for relevant information from the public.
An attentive observer found the dead animal on April 12th in a field between Stetteldorf and Inkersdorf in Lower Austria, reports BirdLife. Since the young animal, which was apparently born only the previous year, showed no physical injuries, the finder notified the bird protection organization.
The organization’s employees examined the imperial eagle on site: “Since the crop – which is a storage organ in the esophagus in birds – was massively filled with pieces of meat, there was a strong suspicion that the animal had died due to a poisoned meat meal,” emphasized the bird of prey expert from BirdLife Austria.
After the incident, the bird conservationists immediately informed the State Criminal Police Office and the official veterinarian. An examination of the wild animal for infectious diseases and a toxicological examination revealed carbofuran as the cause of death. The animal “died painfully from poisoning with the pesticide, which has been banned for over 15 years,” BirdLife stressed in its press release.
The substance, which was formerly used as an insecticide, has been banned in the EU since 2008 due to its high toxicity to vertebrates, including humans, it continues. Despite this, the poison is still used illegally against predators and scavengers.
However, the dead eagle in the Weinviertel is not the first animal to be killed for reasons that are still unknown. In mid-February, an imperial eagle was killed by a shot in the Austrian Marchfeld, according to the animal protection organization.
The increasing wildlife crime through poisoning or arbitrary shooting is one of the most significant threats to imperial eagles, white-tailed eagles, red kites and other protected birds of prey in Central Europe, the animal welfare organization explains in its statement.
“In Austria, a particularly high number of cases of wildlife crime are discovered in the lowlands of the east and Upper Austria,” explains Johannes Hohenegger, BirdLife’s bird of prey expert. “The poisoning of a white-tailed eagle near Neusiedl am See and a red kite near Rechnitz, which became known this year, and the shooting of an imperial eagle in Marchfeld, represent the sad tip of the iceberg, along with this poisoning case on the Wagram,” it continues.
As part of the EU-funded “wildLIFEcrime” project, the BirdLife organisation is working together with 12 project partners from Germany and Austria to combat the illegal killing of wild animals.
The organization has already filed a complaint and is now asking the public for relevant information about the crime.
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