AN INVESTIGATION has been launched after three rare eagles including a chick went missing in “suspicious circumstances”.
The birds’ trackers were cut off and dumped, sparking mystery surrounding their disappearance.
The white-tailed eagles, part of a project led by Forestry England and the Roy Dennis Wildlife Foundation, went missing from Sussex.
They were the first of their kind to be re-introduced in England for hundreds of years and the case is being investigated by both the police and National Wildlife Crime Unit.
Since 2019, just 45 white-tailed eagles have been released and any disruption with the project will spark long-term disruption.
The missing birds had been tagged with trackers, two of which were found abandoned near their last known location.
Meanwhile, the device attached to the third bird simply stopped transmitting data from November 8.
Tim Mackrill from the Roy Dennis Wildlife Foundation said: “It was devastating to find the stolen and dumped tags, particularly for the chick in Sussex who fledged this summer and had only just begun its life.
“So many people in the area had shared the joy of seeing these birds breed again after hundreds of years and our ongoing monitoring has shown how well they were fitting into the landscape.
“To have that destroyed just a few months later is deeply shocking.”
Steve Egerton-Read, White-Tailed Eagle Project Officer for Forestry England, added: “We are returning this lost species to the English landscape and have had so much support from the public.
“These special birds are helping people connect with the natural world and showing how with a little bit of help nature can thrive.
“We are asking the public to show this support again by encouraging anyone who has information that may help the police investigation to come forward.”
Sussex Police have now launched an urgent appeal for information.
The force urged anyone who may have been in or around Harting Down and Petersfield on the evening of September 20 to come forward with any knowledge about the case.
Any members of the public who may have seen the bird or any suspicious behaviour can contact them on 101 or 0800 555 111 quoting incident number 769.
It comes as Dyfed Powys Police also launched a probe into a similar incident on September 13.
A satellite tag belonging to white-tailed eagle G615 was discovered in remote moorland that had been cut off in a similar fashion.
The body of the bird has not since been recovered.
The force would like anyone who was at or around the Gwgia Reservoir, Tregynon between 11am and 1pm or on access land near Bryn y Fawnog between 12 noon and 3pm on September 13 to come forward quoting the crime reference number 137.
Elsewhere, another eagle, G819, went missing and its tag also stopped working.
The last transmission was sent on November 8 in the Moorfoot Hills area.
Police Scotland are treating the disappearance as suspicious and asking anyone with information to contact them on 101 or 0800 555 111 quoting incident number PS-20251215-1347.
