Portuguese environmentalists have denounced the deliberate shooting of the country’s only nesting male Iberian Imperial eagle.The incident took place in February in the Vale do Guadiana natural park, close to the country’s southeastern border with Spain.
Miguel Rodrigues, spokesperson for SOS Lynx, said, “Irrational attitudes constitute one of the main barriers to predator conservation in Spain and Portugal. If predator persecution cannot be adequately controlled, the future recovery of many important predator species will be in doubt.” The species was once widespread across the Iberian Peninsula, but is now confined to small parts of central and southern Spain, and areas close to the Spanish border in Portugal.
Dan Ward on his new lynxblog comments on this shooting that:
“Irrational attitudes constitute one of the main barriers to predator conservation in Spain and Portugal, and if predator persecution cannot be adequately controlled, the future recovery of many important predator species will be in doubt”.
The Spanish (or Iberian) imperial eagle is one of the three rarest birds of prey in the world. Spain currently (2007) is home to all 234 pairs of imperial eagles, with a slight rise in recent years (see news archive on iberianature.
