CaringCreatures

Wolf Dressed in Sea Eagle's Clothing

Farmers in Scotland are reporting stock losses. One farmer is said to have lost more than half of her lambs. In total, over 200 of these cute, fluffy young sheep have been killed. The culprit? Well, many are pointing the finger at sea eagles, which were reintroduced to the area in the 1970s and 80s. The RSPB hails the venture as one of conservation's greatest successes stories, however, a select few Scottish farmers are inclined to disagree.

The RSPB are known to have inspected a nest and found it to contain the remains of four lambs. However, officials point out that there are only three breeding pairs in this particular area of Scotland, as such the eagles simply do not have the capacity to kill that many lambs. Indeed, on the island of Mull, where there are eight breeding pairs, only about 35 lambs were preyed upon in a year.

Sea eagles are known to eat lambs, however, experts insist that their normal behaviour is to select those lambs which are very weak, dying or already dead. If this is the case, it means that farmers suffer no actual loss, as the lambs taken would not have lived to the time of slaughter for meat anyway.

It seems views on this debate are polarised, with a handful of farmers insisting these birds are wolves dressed in eagle's clothing and the RSPB insisting that sea eagles provide no significant contribution towards lamb mortality.