In-depth look at the welfare challenges, conservation success, and ongoing threats to Britain's largest bird of prey.
White-tailed eagles face multiple ongoing welfare threats despite conservation recovery. Illegal persecution remains a serious problem — poisoning using banned pesticides (particularly carbofuran) has killed multiple reintroduced birds. Collision with wind turbines and power lines causes mortality and injury. Lead poisoning from ingested shot in deer carcasses and fish affects sub-adult birds.
Individual welfare challenges include the demands of first-year dispersal, when young eagles must learn to hunt independently. Starvation during this period is a significant mortality cause. Entanglement in fishing gear and hooks in fish causes injury and drowning.
Conservation success in Scotland demonstrates that with adequate protection, these magnificent birds can recover. The welfare of individual birds in reintroduction programmes depends on robust legal protection, persecution investigation, and mitigation of anthropogenic hazards.