AssetID: 53260873
Headline: Detectives Hunt For Missing Scottish Golden Eagle After 'Suspicious' Disappearance
Caption: Detectives Hunt For Missing Scottish Golden Eagle After 'Suspicious' Disappearance. Conservationists in Scotland have been left heartbroken as a much-loved golden eagle reintroduced to the south of the country has gone missing. Police are hunting for the missing female, named Merrick after a Scottish Peak, who was last seen in the Fountainhall area of the Scottish Borders region. Unfortunately, detectives “believe the bird has come to harm and are treating its disappearance as suspicious”. Since 2018, when the first eaglets arrived at custom-built aviaries sited at a confidential location in Scotland’s Southern Uplands, the South of Scotland Golden Eagle Project has translocated birds with a view to boosting the small, isolated, and vulnerable population in the Scottish Borders and Dumfries & Galloway. News of Merrick’s disappearance has been devastating for locals and those trying to restore the raptors - especially as she had been thriving in her new home. Responding to the news, the Project’s Chair, Dumfriesshire farmer Michael Clarke said that “tens of thousands” of people in the local community had invested hopes in restoring the golden eagle population and that it is “devastating to learn that she may have come to harm at the hands of someone who has disregarded the legal protection of the bird”. Before her disappearance, Merrick was loving her new home and exploring all over the south of Scotland and Northern England.
Keywords: CPS1660816,Detectives,Hunt,Missing,Scottish,Golden,Eagle,Suspicious,Disappearance,Conservationists,Scotland,heartbroken,golden eagle,police,hunting,Merrick,female,Scottish Peak,Fountainhall,bird,birds,eaglets,aviaries,vulnerable,population,Scottish Borders and Dumfries & Galloway,Michael Clarke,natural world
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