Sea-Eagle in Lake Vänern

During the 1800s the sea-eagle in lake Vänern in Sweden was quite common but during the 1900s it became extinct. Thanks to feeding of sea-eagles with good meat without toxic substances they came back and last year there were around 10 breeding pairs of sea-eagles in the lake. Two weeks ago in the northern part of the lake a tree with three juveniles in a nest was cut down. One official from the County Administrative board went out to ring the birds, but they were too small so he decided to come back one week later and then the tree had been cut down. It was no mistake because this tree was standing alone and the nest was conspicuous. It was just cut down in cold blood to harm the sea eagles. Who would do a thing like that? I thought the public in Sweden were more sensible in their judgement as for nature conservation. You feel somewhat ashamed for the humans towards the sea eagles or the nature. Of course one can only ponder on what motives the person could have had; money, bitterness or what? I take the occurrence as a sign for the need for more information and change of attitudes. Perhaps also the penalty for such crimes must be more severe to prevent people from doing these things.

Man can unfortunately be a treat almost as severe as the toxic substances by actions like the one described. Other treats today are power lines, wind turbines and exploitation of land decreasing breeding areas.