Police Probe Missing White‑Tailed Eagle at Snilesworth
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- North Yorkshire police sent six officers from the national wildlife crime unit in two pickup trucks to Snilesworth estate last week to investigate a missing white‑tailed eagle.
- Satellite tag on the eagle recorded its location and body temperature every five minutes and transmitted data every six hours; the last signal was received at 1:20 am on 1 May after the bird was seen roosting on 30 April.
- RSPB data show 921 confirmed raptor‑persecution incidents between 2015 and 2024, with at least 55 % occurring on or near game‑bird shooting estates; North Yorkshire accounted for 21.84 % of those incidents.
- Roy Dennis Wildlife Foundation and Forestry England have released 45 white‑tailed eagles from the Isle of Wight, and in 2025 two of the birds bred in Dorset – the first Dorset breeding in 240 years.
- Mark Thomas, head of investigations at the RSPB, said the most likely scenario is that the eagle was shot at night while roosting, possibly using thermal‑imaging equipment, and noted that North Yorkshire is the UK’s worst county for bird crime.
- Dr Ruth Tingay, director of Wild Justice, warned that “wilful blindness is no longer an option” and urged more police resources and stronger powers to tackle wildlife crime.
- British Association for Shooting and Conservation condemned illegal killing of birds of prey but said there is no evidence a gamekeeper was involved in the eagle’s disappearance, noting that white‑tailed eagles have little impact on game‑bird populations.
Why it matters: Conservationists risk losing a rare, satellite‑tagged eagle that represents a flagship success of the white‑tailed eagle reintroduction, while authorities gain a high‑profile case to expose illegal raptor persecution in North Yorkshire – a region accounting for over a fifth of UK bird‑crime incidents.
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