The life of the Slovak eagle watched people from 173 countries, illustrative stock photo. (source: Stanislava Smadišová)
An eagle that became famous as part of a conservation project in the High Tatras has been found dead. The body of the bird, named Anička, was found by a shepherd in a meadow in the Liptov region in north Slovakia.
It is thought she died after a fight with a stronger eagle.
Her death comes soon after the tenth anniversary since conservationists started tracking the lesser-spotted eagle by means of a solar-powered GPS tracker. The device allowed hundreds of thousands of people all over the world to watch the animal online.
The tracker also confirmed the dead bird is Anička.
"It was a unique opportunity to learn more about the life of the lesser-spotted eagle. For three years, we used telemetry to follow Anička's amazing and often difficult journey to the wintering grounds in South-East Africa and back to Slovakia," said Tatra National Park (TANAP) Administration officer Peter Vrlík.
"During the migration, the eagle flew over 25 countries from Europe, around the Black Sea to Asia, through Syria and Israel to Africa," added Vrlík.
The furthest she went was South Africa, just 40 kilometres from the Indian Ocean, which is 8,400 kilometres in a straight line from Slovakia.
Anička and her partner raised several chicks.
