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Tingay seizes eagle turbine death to attack keepers

Anti-shooting campaigner Ruth Tingay has launched a bizarre attack on the shooting industry and claimed gamekeepers will be “jumping up and down” after the reported death of a golden eagle following its collision with a wind turbine in Scotland. 

The unprovoked attack on the fieldsports sector was published on the Raptor Persecution UK website following the announcement that a three-year-old, locally fledged golden eagle had been found dead 15m from the base of a turbine on Windy Rig Wind Farm in Dumfries and Galloway. 

Dr Tingay has used the sad news as another opportunity to denounce gamekeepers, commenting that this information would be “pounced upon” by the shooting sector who would be “pointing fingers” and announcing that “wind farms are killing golden eagles, it’s not us”. 

Earlier this year, the South of Scotland Golden Eagle Project said the golden eagle population in southern Scotland had risen to 47 — the highest in centuries. The eagle project has been introducing and fledging birds at its secret site near Moffat since 2018. Project leaders say the death of Sparky, as the eagle was known, highlights the need to mitigate risks to endangered birds at proposed and existing turbine sites.