Written Question · S6W-00189 · Session 6
How many independently verified livestock predation incidents involving sea eagles have been recorded by independent veterinary post-mortem…
The question
To ask the Scottish Government how many independently verified livestock predation incidents involving sea eagles have been recorded by independent veterinary post-mortem testing in each of the last five years.
The answer
It is not possible to retrieve all carcasses in suspected predation incidents as sea eagles generally take prey back to their nests.
Between 2015 and 2019, 12 lamb carcasses were sent by NatureScot for post-mortem analysis by Scotland’s Rural College vets in Inverness, of those 6 were found to likely have been predated by either sea or golden eagles. Further details of the analysis can be found on NatureScot’s website at WTE Action Plan Review .
In recent years NatureScot has moved away from a policy of verifying individual predation incidents as it is accepted, as a result of a range of evidence from different sources, that sea eagles can predate lambs and attack adult sheep.
One of the new measures included in the revised SEMS is enhanced shepherding which aims to provide more detailed information on WTE interactions with sheep flocks to be recorded and reported back to NatureScot from the shepherded areas, as well as providing a scaring element through the additional presence of shepherds on areas of the hill. NatureScot published its Summary Report on Enhanced Shepherding in 2020: Sea Eagle Management Scheme
- Summary Report on Enhanced Shepherding 2020 | NatureScot .
Between 2015 and 2019, 12 lamb carcasses were sent by NatureScot for post-mortem analysis by Scotland’s Rural College vets in Inverness, of those 6 were found to likely have been predated by either sea or golden eagles. Further details of the analysis can be found on NatureScot’s website at WTE Action Plan Review .
In recent years NatureScot has moved away from a policy of verifying individual predation incidents as it is accepted, as a result of a range of evidence from different sources, that sea eagles can predate lambs and attack adult sheep.
One of the new measures included in the revised SEMS is enhanced shepherding which aims to provide more detailed information on WTE interactions with sheep flocks to be recorded and reported back to NatureScot from the shepherded areas, as well as providing a scaring element through the additional presence of shepherds on areas of the hill. NatureScot published its Summary Report on Enhanced Shepherding in 2020: Sea Eagle Management Scheme
- Summary Report on Enhanced Shepherding 2020 | NatureScot .
In the Official Report
No contribution in the Official Report cites S6W-00189 by reference.