Havørn i Danmark

Sea eagles in Denmark

You can also see sea eagles in the wild in Denmark, but they haven't had a great history here. It's been completely gone from the Danish wildlife, but its numbers are now rising.

Sea eagles have not had a great history in Denmark. Earlier all birds of prey were seen as a threat towards the Danes’ hunting and fishing, so all birds of prey were hunted with guns and poison. The white-tailed sea eagle were thus eradicated from Danish wildlife in the beginning of the nineteen-hundreds. Since then the way we view nature has luckily changed, and in 1967 the sea eagle and other birds of prey, became protected by law. Since then the sea eagles have returned to Denmark, and the numbers are constantly rising.

But sea eagles are not safe everywhere. Some places they are still shot and poisoned. For example, by fur-trappers in Russia. They don’t like the eagles eating the animals caught in their traps. Also in Japan, a lot of eagles are dying from lead-poisoning, that they get from eating the offal from Sika deer shot with lead ammunition. You can find stories like this from all over the world, and not only concerning the sea eagle, but all species of birds of prey.