Looduskalender

Madis wrote:Hello!
Yes, the Eagles soft tissues where mostly consumed, therefore we did not have lots of material to examine, but as lead is so soft and while traveling through tissues loses up to 50% of its mass due to fragmentation, we had few larger fragments and lots of tiny pieces on the remaining carcass on radiographs (radiographic find is the gold standard proving shot injuries). Adding the good condition (back fat) of the eagle and the radiographic find, and the data from tracking device, there is sufficient evidence what is enough to state that the eagle was shot.
Now, after that the circus started when the inspectorate and ministry of environment started to speculate that there is no conclusive evidence as to how Nimeta died, yet he was full of lead fragments and had NONE in his body when he was released just days before (conclusions of the cause of death can be made only by a licensed veterinarians, according to law)
After the pressure what you guys have been doing, they asked from one of my colleague (veterinary pathologist at the Uni.) to "fish out" some fragments and yes he got out 3 metal fragments. And then those fragments where sent to Estonian Forensic Science Institute, for chemical analyse and so far all of the 3 expertise's (mine, vet pathologist, and Estonian Forensic Science Institute) have stated the same, that its lead from standard ammunition used in hunting, so the bird has been shot! Well, so far over 3 moths have gone to proving what I proved at the beginning, legally on the rights that the law gives to an veterinarian.
Also we are back in the beginning as those fragments will not give us no new knowledge (don't have name of the shooter on them) but only prove again what has been said by me and also by other competent specialists... lets hope that they will now put the energy and resources to cracking the circle defense of those local poachers (sorry but those people don't deserve to be called hunters, so lets call em as they are... poachers!).
Coming now back to the suspects, the local hunters from Simuna jahtkond, the leader, Raul Vahter, and also other members are owners and workers for a company Artiston (http://www.artiston.ee/) Its a big private forestry. As i see, their motive would be forest management as protected species, nesting in their managed forest, will put strict prohibition to their management and therefore they will lose green stuff as they are not allowed to cut town the trees in 200m around the eagles nest. As its a powerful company, the local people relie from they jobs what that company may provide to that region, so its hard to get anybody standing up and confessing against their boss :(
My current concern is, was Nimeta the only? if we look at the small feeding place on webcam and the amount of eagles, the field in Simuna was bigger and with so much more food. I believe that there may have been more eagles feeding there!
Anyways, its a new kind of case for the Inspectorate as there has been nobody before who could determine criminal activities against wildlife and there will be more cases like that coming up as I plan to report all acts of that kind to the authority's. I hope they don't mind me poking around and discovering that everything ain't that good The collaboration between us and authority's is crucial and sometimes some heavy interest from abroad puts snowballs to move. At the end of the day lets keep our wildlife safe as it is an important part of our environment!
Cheers and thanks for all the help tough there is lot still to do!

juta wrote:Hello!

On Facebook Looduskalender shared this article (via Viido Polikarpus):

http://usnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/01 ... -lake?lite

ANTIGO — An online video of a hawk grabbing a baby that was revealed to be a hoax could be behind an increase in bird shootings, one wildlife rehabilitation expert says.

The Raptor Education Group, a wildlife rehabilitation center near Antigo, has taken in four hawks and two bald eagles since the video was released, Executive Director Marge Gibson said. Six birds, all of which were shot, are at least twice as many as the center usually gets in one month, she said.

The video surfaced on Dec. 18 on YouTube and quickly became viral, gaining speed and views on sites such as Facebook and Twitter. It now has more than 41 million views. The video was created by students at a Montreal animation school; they admitted the video was a hoax on Dec. 19.

Gibson said the video sparked fear in people, and even though the students admitted it was a hoax, false information seems to spread much more quickly than corrections do.

Starling wrote:"Another eagle victim of lead"
http://www.metsloom.ee/en/uudised-rus/1 ... -ohvriks-2

Starling wrote:"Another eagle victim of lead"
http://www.metsloom.ee/en/uudised-rus/1 ... -ohvriks-2