Police forces across the UK have launched investigations following the highly suspicious disappearance of three rare white-tailed eagles, birds central to a landmark reintroduction project. Among the missing is a chick that represented the first wild-born generation of the species in England for centuries.
Tags Deliberately Severed and Discarded
The alarming situation came to light after the satellite tags of two of the eagles were discovered discarded near their last known locations. Both tags had been deliberately cut off with a sharp instrument. The tag from the young chick, which fledged in Sussex this summer, was retrieved from the River Rother near Petersfield on 26 September. Despite extensive searches, the body of the bird has not been found.
In a separate incident in Wales, another severed tag was recovered from remote moorland on 13 September. A third eagle's tracker has simply stopped transmitting, with its last signal coming from the Moorfoot Hills south of Edinburgh on 8 November. Police Scotland are treating this disappearance as suspicious.
A Blow to a Landmark Conservation Effort
White-tailed eagles, the UK's largest bird of prey with a wingspan up to 2.4 metres, were wiped out in southern England by the 18th century due to persecution. A pioneering partnership between Forestry England and the Roy Dennis Wildlife Foundation began reintroducing them on the Isle of Wight in 2019. To date, 45 birds have been released.
The project had been hailed a significant success, with several breeding pairs established and, crucially, six chicks born in the wild in England—the first since the 1780s. The recent disappearances threaten this fragile recovery.
"It was devastating to find the stolen and dumped tags, particularly for the chick in Sussex," said Tim Mackrill of the Roy Dennis Wildlife Foundation. "To have that destroyed just a few months later is deeply shocking."
Police Appeals and Public Urged to Come Forward
Multiple police forces are now appealing for information from the public:
- Sussex Police want to hear from anyone in the Harting Down and Petersfield area on the evening of 20 September 2025 (incident 769).
- Dyfed-Powys Police seek information regarding activity near Gwgia Reservoir, Tregynon, or Bryn y Fawnog on 13 September (crime ref 137).
- Police Scotland ask for details related to the Moorfoot Hills after 8 November (incident PS-20251215-1347).
Steve Egerton-Read, White-Tailed Eagle Project Officer for Forestry England, stated: "We are returning this lost species to the English landscape... We are asking the public to show this support again by encouraging anyone with information to come forward." The incidents follow the deaths of two other released eagles in 2022, where rat poison was detected.
