Would you take Scottish Golden Eagles?
Today has been a mile stone for the South of Scotland Golden Eagle Project with the news that £1.3 million will be spent on bringing the Golden Eagle back to around 10 and 16 breeding areas across southern parts of the Borders and Dumfries and Galloway. - http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-south-scotland-39384426
But the big question that still needs answering is would you take Scottish young birds to relocate to an area which has seen several Golden Eagles killed in recent years with pairs prevented from breeding. The classic breeding pairs at Kielder, Peebles and Langholm were removed by Red Grouse moor owners to improve the number of Red Grouse to shoot.
The White tailed Eagle projects saw birds brought from Norway to Britain and now we see the Norwegian government trying to have Golden Eagles killed due them taking Reindeer even though over stocking of Reindeer by Lapps is causing devastating environmental destruction in the Northern areas of the country.
http://www.birdlife.org/europe-and-central-asia/news/norways-golden-eagles-are-under-threat
So should we not look at bringing young Golden Eagles from Norway not Scotland? Many areas in Scotland still see persecution especially seen by Satellite tracking showing lots of ‘Black spots’ where eagles are being killed. Then there are the areas where Wildlife Tourism can be the main local income so no young eagles can be removed from these areas leaving only the east side of the country where Red Grouse shooting has destroyed the potential Wildlife Tourism industry.
That leaves the only areas where young eagles should be taken in Scotland would be on Red Grouse moors but how long would it take for the numbers to be sufficient to help a relocation to Southern Scotland!
The other plus side is that this scheme should see birds relocating to the Lake District with no cost to the English!