{"id":221021,"date":"2025-10-23T19:50:09","date_gmt":"2025-10-23T19:50:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/221021\/"},"modified":"2025-10-23T19:50:09","modified_gmt":"2025-10-23T19:50:09","slug":"should-white-tailed-eagles-be-reintroduced-to-cumbria-another-questionnaire-seeks-your-views-raptor-persecution-uk","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/221021\/","title":{"rendered":"Should White-tailed Eagles be reintroduced to Cumbria? Another questionnaire seeks your views \u2013 Raptor Persecution UK"},"content":{"rendered":"

The proposition to release White-tailed Eagles in Cumbria has been knocking around for a number of years now (e.g. see this<\/a> feasibility report from 2022).<\/p>\n

The Cumbrian White-tailed Eagle Project<\/a> is being overseen by a credible steering group comprising the University of Cumbria, Cumbria Wildlife Trust, The Lifescape Project, RSPB, the Wildland Institute, the Lake District National Park Authority alongside local estate owners and managers.<\/p>\n

According to the steering group, research has indicated that Cumbria has sufficient suitable habitat to support a population of White-tailed Eagles and the county is considered an important strategic location to encourage links between other populations in Scotland, Ireland and Northern Ireland and the south of England.<\/p>\n

The group is conducting a social feasibility study, \u2018to help us to understand attitudes and values, and the anticipated impacts of a potential white-tailed eagle reintroduction in Cumbria\u2018.<\/p>\n

A questionnaire is available<\/a> and is aimed at \u2018individuals living in Cumbria and the surrounding area\u2019. A further questionnaire for organisations is anticipated in the near future.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

This isn\u2019t the first survey of attitudes towards the release of White-tailed Eagles in Cumbria \u2013 it seems to be the latest in a long line (e.g. see here<\/a> and here<\/a>). <\/p>\n

Whilst I\u2019d welcome the sight of White-tailed Eagles in the Lake District, I do have reservations about this project (i.e. one of the requirements to justify the translocation of a species is that the species in question shouldn\u2019t be able to get there of its own accord, e.g. through natural expansion of the population \u2013 see more commentary from me here<\/a>). However, I applaud the project\u2019s openness, transparency, and willingness to consult the public.<\/p>\n

Not everyone is supportive of the proposed translocation, for very different reasons to mine. In response to the previous public consultations, the usual fact-free hysteria was whipped up about the supposed threat posed by the eagles to lambs<\/a> and babies<\/a>.<\/p>\n

More recently, in response to the latest public consultation, this poster was on display at the Millom & Broughton Agricultural Show in the Lake District in August, from the Herdwick Sheep Breeders\u2019 Association (thanks to a blog reader for sending it in):<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

This level of ignorance and \u2018anti-eagle\u2019 views in the UK, often promoted by idiotic journalists, is probably why so many of our native raptors continue to be illegally killed. It\u2019s as if the last 50 years of successful raptor conservation projects never happened to those with this Victorian mindset.<\/p>\n

The recent accusations that White-tailed Eagles \u2018ate five Shetland ponies\u2019 on South Uist recently is a perfect example. I\u2019ll write more about that ludicrous claim shortly but it\u2019s interesting to note that the Herdwick Sheep Breeders\u2019 Association chose to include it on this poster.<\/p>\n

If you\u2019re local to Cumbria or the surrounding area, or even if you\u2019re a visitor to the Lake District, please consider filling in the questionnaire<\/a> to provide a more balanced and informed view. Closing date is Friday 31 Oct 2025.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The proposition to release White-tailed Eagles in Cumbria has been knocking around for a number of years now…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":221022,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[90,56,54,55,4407],"class_list":{"0":"post-221021","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-wildlife","8":"tag-science","9":"tag-uk","10":"tag-united-kingdom","11":"tag-unitedkingdom","12":"tag-wildlife"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/221021","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=221021"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/221021\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/221022"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=221021"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=221021"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=221021"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}