DEAR Editor,-
In response to Steven van Staden’s letter entitled ‘Human intervention must be carefully considered’ in the South Coast Herald dated May 11.
I have been involved with the Crowned Eagle Research Programme for the past four and a half years, working with Dr Shane McPherson from UKZN.
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The programme covers from Hibberdene to Port Edward and inland to Oribi Gorge.
We have monitored 20 crowned eagle nests in this area. As far as we know, there are two crowned eagle nests in the Umtentweni district – one near the sugar mill and one off Rethman Drive.
Neither have had any artificial intervention. However if there is another nest in the area that you can identify, it would of great interest to the research programme.
Both nests mentioned had chick failure this last breeding season.
Crowned eagles breed mainly every second year, however, sometimes do produce yearly, raising only one chick at a time.
I was also involved with the research on Urban Habitat for Mammals with Dr Yvette Ehlers Smith and she reported that we have one of the highest densities of mammals in coastal forest in South Africa.
There are incidents where juvenile crowned eagles have been known to take domestic pets, however this is a very marginal percentage.
There is an overpopulation of monkeys, which is their main diet, so it would interesting to know where Steven obtained his information from.
This kind of reporting is extremely careless. If anyone has any queries or needs any further information, please contact me at 078 5087290
ALEX SKENE
Chairman, Umtentweni Conservancy
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