Rare eagles diving toward extinction

29/07/2007 00:00:00 WEDGE-TAILED eagles are in serious trouble in Tasmania, says a wildlife refuge operator who specialises in raptors. Craig Webb, operator of the Raptor and Wildlife Refuge of Tasmania, said the species was looking down the barrel at extinction. There are only about 100 breeding pairs of the Tasmanian sub-species, which is the largest eagle in the nation, left in the wild.

'They're in real trouble,' Mr Webb said. 'They can't sustain the current rate of mortality.' He said a wedge-tailed eagle had been hit by a car while feeding on roadkill at Nubeena last week. 'It had to be euthanased'.

Birds Tasmania chairman Eric Woehler said two wedge-tailed eagles had been killed at the Woolnorth wind farm in the state's north-west in the past two weeks. 'It's not a good record,' Dr Woehler said.

Mr Webb is currently caring for two injured wedge-tailed eagles in a new raptor enclosure he has built at his refuge at Kettering, south of Hobart. The massive bird cage is made from salmon nets and is 21m high at its peak and 26m wide. He believed it to be the world's biggest raptor enclosure.

About 12 wedge-tailed eagles were electrocuted last year by flying into powerlines. Computer modelling commissioned by Forestry Tasmania and undertaken by Melbourne University researchers, found the Tasmanian wedge-tailed eagle had a 98 percent chance of becoming extinct in 200 years in north-east Tasmania. But researcher Sarah Bekessy said the results could be taken statewide.

Mr Webb said wedge-tailed eagles were under threat on all fronts. They were electrocuted by powerlines, killed by wind farms, shot by idiots, hit by motor vehicles and losing habitat because of logging. 'Logging is eating into their habitat in a big way,' Mr Webb said.

Ornithologist and Mercury columnist Don Knowler said he hoped Tasmania would one day be able to follow the United States which is taking the bald eagle off the endangered species list. The revival of the great American eagle has been achieved by a massive campaign. 'The good news from America is that the eagle, the national bird depicted on the Great Seal of the United States, is now being taken off the endangered species list,' Mr Knowler said.

'As with the wedge-tailed eagle in Tasmania, the bald eagle has suffered loss of habitat but another important factor was build-up of chemical poison DDT in the birds from eating animal flesh. 'The return of the bald eagle proves that if there is a will, these things can be achieved.

'As in Tasmania, the return of the bald eagle is the result of a joint effort by non-government wildlife organisations and dedicated individuals, and federal and state agencies.'

Mr Webb said he hoped his two-year-old son, Ziggy, would be able to see wedge-tailed eagles in the wild in Tasmania when he was an adult. 'I want him to see these beautiful birds in the wild,' Mr Webb said.