ISLAND'S GOLDEN EAGLE POISONED

POLICE are probing the deliberate poisoning of a golden eagle in the Western Isles.

Northern Constabulary officers have already raided four properties on the island of Uig in a bid to find the killers.

"There have been no arrests so far," said a police spokesman.

Scientific analysis established the bird was baited and poisoned using an illegal substance banned in 2001.

The eagle was recovered by a hillwalker at a cairn at the top of Coduinn Hill on the Morsquil Estate on July 31.

Police have been working with the Scottish Executive environment and rural affairs department and the RSPB, whose investigations officer Dave Dick said: "A toxicology examination by the Scottish Agricultural Science Agency found the eagle was poisoned by a banned substance.

"These birds help the economy of the Western Isles, as more and more tourists are heading there to look at them. So someone killing these birds is attacking the whole community.

"It is extremely disappointing to see a poisoning in the Western Isles. They don't have a tradition of this. It goes against their normality."

Scotland is home to almost all of the UK breeding population of golden eagles. The population is now 431 pairs, according to the most recent survey.

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