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A white-tailed eagle in a care station in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern
Photo: Jens Büttner/ dpa
A strictly protected white-tailed eagle has been shot and beheaded in the Münsterland nature reserve Letter Bruch near Coesfeld. The animal's claws and head were removed after death.
The case was handed over to the public prosecutor's office in Münster, the district of Coesfeld announced. The incident had already occurred in April. The animal had immigrated from France and came from a French reintroduction program.
According to the transmitter data, the young eagle is likely to have been shot down on April 1, 2023. "It is hard to imagine that this large bird, which is very easy to identify even at greater distances, was accidentally shot," said Detlev Terlisten, head of the lower hunting authority in the Coesfeld district.
White-tailed eagles are strictly protected. According to both the Federal Hunting Act and the Federal Nature Conservation Act, killing is a criminal offence punishable by up to five years in prison.
ktz/dpa