Sir, - As golden eagles start the long journey to establish themselves in the Irish countryside one more element needs to be put in place to protect these beautiful birds.
An identification booklet should be sent to every firearm owner in the country. In the booklet should be a photograph and a detailed description of what a Golden Eagle looks like. This would destroy any defence from a gunman claiming he did not know what he was shooting at and anyway it looked a large pheasant. It can only be a matter of time before a golden eagle ends up shot in the Irish countryside.
Irish gunmen operate on the motto "if it flies it dies". Bird identification is not their strong point. That is why they use the "blindman's weapon" the shotgun to blast wildlife into oblivion.
The Irish countryside lost the sight of soaring Golden eagles because of the shooting community. What might be an aid to protect Golden Eagles is a blanket ban on all forms of shooting within a four country radius of where a bird has taken up residency. So much has been done to introduce Golden Eagles in the countryside that measures to protect and develop that work might be radical and far reaching. Nothing less then that would be a sell out for conservation.
To see the re-introduction of this bird being put in danger by shooting again exposes the dead end nature of conservation by the shooting community. The conservation of Irish wildlife and its habitat does not and never did depend on the actions of those who kill wildlife for fun. They contribute nothing only terror and death to the issue and can rightly be called rural vandals. - Yours, etc.,
John Tierney, Campaigns Director, Association of Hunt Saboteurs, Dublin 1.