A COUNTRY estate at the centre of a mystery over a missing golden eagle claims it has evidence the bird is still alive.
The North Glenbuchat Estate at Strathdon has now accused the RSBP of making “defamatory” allegations and says the matter is now in the hands of its lawyers.
The bird charity last week appealed for information after the satellite-tagged golden eagle disappeared in Aberdeenshire.
The young male bird, known as 338, was fitted with a transmitter before it left its nest last summer.
The eagle’s tag stopped working on March 5 and its last recorded position was in Glenbuchat, Strathdon, before nightfall.
Ian Thomson, RSPB Scotland’s head of investigations, said: “These tags are very reliable. Had the bird succumbed to natural causes, we would expect to continue to receive data and to be able to locate and recover the body of the eagle with ease.”
However the estate now claims it has video footage and photographs of the missing eagle.
Laura Sorrentino, director of North Glenbuchat Estate, said: “The RSPB allegations against the estate have been reckless and defamatory and the matter is now in the hands of our lawyers. Our head keeper filmed what he believed was the ‘missing’ eagle on Thursday and further footage was filmed on Saturday afternoon and photographs were taken on Saturday evening. We cannot be as certain that the Saturday afternoon footage is the same eagle but the head keeper is more confident that the later photographs could be the 338-tagged bird. We have submitted both to police and what this does show that eagles not only exist on our estate but are welcome.
“We may well have been able to assist RSPB further with its investigation into why the satellite tag on 338 stopped working but its representatives were hooded and kept their faces covered when they visited the estate with police on Wednesday. We found this extraordinary as there has been no allegation of wrongdoing or criminality by the police. The estate has been actively looking for the eagle since it was made aware that the satellite tag had ceased transmitting.”
However, RSBP Scotland yesterday denied accusing the landowners of wildlife crime.
“We submitted an appeal for information based on the fact that a satellite-tagged eagle had gone missing. This information can only be welcomed. Whether it is the eagle in question remains to be seen.”
The footage can be viewed here: http://bit.ly/GlenbuchatEagle
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