A post mortem examination carried out on a golden eagle found dead near Fort William in March has revealed the bird was poisoned. The poisoning is the third such incident to have occurred in the area in the past decade.

The bird had been poisoned with banned pesticides, according to Northern Constabulary, which was responsible for the post mortem. The police force said it would be investigating the bird’s death in cooperation with the RSPB and specialists from the National Wildlife Crime Unit.

There are thought to be less than thirty breeding pairs of golden eagles left in the UK. A spokesperson for Northern Constabulary condemned the killing, calling it “completely unacceptable and illegal” and pointing out that wildlife tourism is an increasingly significant source of income to Scotland’s Highlands

The loss was described by Peter Robson, an ecologist working at the Highland reserve where the poisoned eagle had fledged as “a setback for all those involved in the conservation of Golden Eagles in Scotland.”

The latest figures from the Scottish Government, released in March, showed bird of prey poisonings are continuing on a downward trend in Scotland. However, the area around Fort William has also seen two white tailed sea eagles killed illegally since 2002.

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