Protected raptor killed in reserve
One of nature's powerful and majestic rapotors, a crowned eagle, was found dead in Springside Road, with a bullet wound through its head.
A 12-MONTH-OLD crowned eagle, a species protected under the Nature Conservation Ordinance, was shot and killed in the Springside Nature Reserve area in late October.
The bird hatched in Moseley Park and moved into the Springside area to nest. According to MSC student, Shane McPherson, the bird was identified as it was previously ringed with a unique ID number as part of his research project on the Durban crowned eagles.
The research he is collecting aims to evaluate the urban ecology of the crowned eagles, from addressing human-wildlife conflicts and investigating the survival and recruitment of young eagles into the urban population.
“They are forest eagles so the do perch regularly, which is when it would have been an easy target. There was a fairly large exit wound so it was inflicted with a high powered weapon, certainly more than just a pellet gun. The death was instantaneous,” said McPherson.
He said that young birds, from many species of raptors, already suffer from a high mortality rate due to natural causes but with the addition of human hazards – from electrocution and drowning in water tanks – might impact the sustainability of the population.
He said he follows the birds quite personally and, in the case of this juvenile female crowned eagle, had seen it grow from a hatchling. “With this one we had a nest camera and watched it grow for five months through a collection of 74 300 photos. I watched it, and four others, go from balls of fluff into fully-fledged crowned eagles,” said McPherson.
According to Luci Coehlo, secretary of the Hillcrest Conservancy, the person involved in the killing of the protected eagle needs to be convicted and condemned in the strongest possible terms. “From the Conservancy’s point of view, we are completely horrified that someone in the area would take it upon themselves to do something so drastic. We are supposed to be custodians of all things wild, and knowingly living around a nature reserve where there are wild animals should be viewed as a blessing,” said Coehlo.
According to McPherson, the juvenile crowned eagle in Giba Gorge, that was ringed last year (19 October 2012), was last sited in Plantations on 31 August this year.
Its parents are currently raising another chick at their nest in Giba Gorge.
If you have any information regarding the killing of the eagle email Johann, an Ezemvelo wildlife officer, at johann.vermeulen@wildlife.com. If you have any queries regarding the research project email Shane at shane.mcpherson@gmail.com.
