People in the Shannonside region are being asked to be especially careful about bog fires following an incident on bogland near Ballinasloe this week.
Billy Gallagher who runs the Athlone Animal Haven charity says a fire which began in the Derrycahill area on Monday evening could have led to nesting curlews being destroyed.
He says the area is a known habitat for a couple of pairs of the endangered bird and he was dismayed to see smoke coming from a section of the bog near the Roscommon Galway border.
The fire brigade were quickly on the scene and had the fire out within a short time but the animal activist says it could have been much more serious if it hadn't been spotted…
"I was walking a dog and I was about a smile from where the fire started but I could see the smoke and just starting up. I rang my wife and I told her to ring the fire brigade be because we wanted to get the fire out as quickly as possible. We knew there is three nesting curlew sites on the bog and we said if it catches fire that will be the end of the nesting sites."
Minister Malcolm Noonan has supported a full investigation by An Garda Siochana into the causes of a major fire at Curraghline bog in County Galway.
