The poisoned carcasses of two rare white-tailed sea eagles have been discovered in the Waterville area of south west Kerry.
The birds had been reintroduced to Ireland last August from Norway as part of a programme to re-establish a viable breeding population of sea eagles in south-west Ireland.
The deaths follow the poisoning of another white-tailed sea eagle found dead on March 12th near Lough Lein, Killarney.
The fish eagle deaths follow the finding of a golden eagle poisoned by paraquat in Co Donegal on February 19th, 2009.
A red kite found dead near Tiglin, Co Wicklow, on March 16th had also died of alphachloralose poisoning.
The Golden Eagle Trust said last month it intended to lodge an official complaint with the European Commission over the continuing poisoning of birds of prey.
The trust and BirdWatch Ireland called for an urgent review of the laws covering the supply, storage, use and misuse of poisons and the enforcement of these laws and regulations.
Recent changes in legislation by the Department of the Environment prohibited the use of meat baits in the control of birds, but the Department of Agriculture’s Protection of Animals (Amendment) Act 1965 still allowed, in restricted circumstances, the use of poison baits to control foxes.
