Portugal's Only Nesting Male Iberian Eagle Shot

The shooting occurred sometime between February 21 and 23 in the Vale do Guadiana natural park, close to the country's southeastern border with Spain, according to a statement Sunday by the environmental groups, including SOS Lynx, A Nossa Terra and Almargem.

The shooting occurred next to the eagle's nest within a protected area by an individual or individuals as yet unidentified.

Miguel Rodrigues, spokesperson for SOS Lynx, said, "Irrational attitudes constitute one of the main barriers to predator conservation in Spain and Portugal. If predator persecution cannot be adequately controlled, the future recovery of many important predator species will be in doubt."

An Iberian Imperial eagle (Photo courtesy animalesextincion.es)

The Iberian Imperial eagle, Aquila adalberti, also called the Spanish Imperial eagle, is one of the three rarest birds of prey in the world, with only 400 individuals surviving. It is listed as Vulnerable to extinction in the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species.

The species was once widespread across the Iberian Peninsula, but is now confined to small parts of central and southern Spain, and areas close to the Spanish border in Portugal.

The deliberate shooting of an Iberian Imperial eagle is illegal under Portuguese and international law.

The groups say this shooting represents a disaster for the species' recovery in Portugal, as well as the recovery of other important predators, including the planned reintroduction of Iberian lynx.

The Iberian Lynx, Lynx pardinus, is the most endangered feline species in the world. Studies conducted in March 2005 estimated the number of surviving Iberian lynx to be as few as 100, which is down from about 400 in 2000 and down from 4,000 animals in 1960.

The Andalusian counties of Guadalmellato and Guarrizas have been chosen as the sites for the first releases of captive Iberian lynx into the wild. Iberian lynx is planned to be reintroduced into Guadalmellato beginning from autumn 2009, and into Guarrizas beginning from 2010.

Aquila adalberti breeds in Spain in the Sierras of Guadarrama and Gredos, the plains of the Tajo and Tiétar rivers, the central hills of Extremadura, Monters de Toledo, the Alcudia valley, Sierra Morena and the Guadalquivir marshes, with occasional nesting in Salamanca and Málaga, according to the IUCN Red List.

In the 1960s, only 30 pairs remained, but recovery began in the early 1980s at a rate of five new breeding pairs per year up to 1994.

Since 1994, the population again started to decline from 148 pairs to 131 pairs in 1998, and breeding success in important areas such as the Guadalquivir marshes declined steeply in the late 1990s.

This decline is thought to represent a brief leveling out of a positive trend, and the population is now believed to number 394 individuals. The estimated population size has increased annually in Spain since 2000.

The male eagle that was shot is one of just four birds that had recently recolonized Portugal, moving across the border from Spain.

The abundance and distribution of rabbits, a favored prey, influence population density, range and reproductive performance of these eagles in both countries.

Last week, the IUCN reclassified the European rabbit, Oryctolagus cuniculus, as Near Threatened with extinction, in its native range, an upgrade from its former listing as Vulnerable.

However, the IUCN warns, due to a combination of excessive hunting and eradication programs, habitat loss and the arrival of myxomatosis in the 1950s and rabbit hemorrhagic virus in 1989, rabbit populations have declined and remain very low in most areas - just five percent of pre-1950s levels. This in turn has led to the decline in many predator species, including the Iberian lynx and Iberian Imperial eagle.

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