WP: Bald Eagle to Be Taken Off Endangered List

[DeepModem Mom]

Bald Eagle to Be Taken Off Endangered List
By Peter Slevin
Washington Post Staff Writer
Monday, December 25, 2006; Page A03


Bald eagles, like this one shown hunting for fish along Missouri's Wappapello Lake, have rebounded to more than 7,000 nesting pairs after their numbers fell dangerously low. (By Paul Davis-Daily American Republic Via Associated Press)

MINNEAPOLIS -- Seven years after the U.S. government moved to take the bald eagle off the endangered species list, the Bush administration intends to complete the step by February, prodded by a frustrated libertarian property owner in Minnesota.

The delisting, supported by mainstream environmental groups, would represent a formal declaration that the eagle population has sufficiently rebounded, increasing more than 15-fold since its 1963 nadir to more than 7,000 nesting pairs.

The next challenge is to ensure the national symbol's continued protection.

"By February 16th, the bald eagle will be delisted," said Marshall Jones, deputy director of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. "We'll be clear so people won't think, 'It's open season on bald eagles.' No way."

Although the majestic raptor will no longer be covered by the Endangered Species Act, two earlier laws and a few carefully written phrases are expected to balance respect for the eagle with an appreciation for property rights....

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/12/24/AR2006122400666.html

[sam sarrha]

1. 'appreciation for property rights'=bald eagle for thanks giving if you own land

[havocmom]

3. Or, if you set out poison to kill vermin, and an eagle dies as a result

you don't necessarily go to jail. Just a little bit of what happens out here in the wilds.

[jmowreader]

4. Sam, eagles are inedible

The eagle, majestic creature though it may be, is in reality about one step removed from a buzzard when it comes to its dietary preferences. It is primarily a predator, but it will readily take carrion.

An animal whose entire diet consists of fish and animal carcasses is no friend of the American palate.

[sam sarrha]

8. RepugNuts would eat shit with a spoon if there was a road thru a park in it, a deacimated forest or

an extinction because of it, or a factory sent to China

[Show_Me _The_Truth]

2. Why would anyone hunt these or any non-food animal?

I am not opposed to and have hunted frquently, animals such as deer and ferrel hogs. That being said, I cannot understand how people can hunt animals like this just to say they shot a Bald Eagle.

Worked with a guy once who went on safari and shot a zebra just because his wife needed to cover a chair. He also had pics of a Grizzly he killed. I aksed him what satisfaction he got out of it, and he didn't have a real good answer.

[HereSince1628]

5. I believe all raptors (birds of prey) will remain protected under other laws

So, they won't be subjected to hunting, but the habitat they use, which includes private lands may have some land use restrictions lifted.

We aren't going to see mounted specimens return as drugstore decorations as they once were.

I'm not sure but this may make collection and ownership of feathers for religious use less problematic.


I wouldn't trust the Bush administration in anything it does, but monitoring populations will continue and if necessary more protective legislation/regulation will be possible.

On edit: remember the R's won't rule with tyranny forever, not even for very long.

[LisaM]

9. People hunt them for their feathers, beaks, and talons

They were doing it illegally in Washington State already; God only knows what will happen now.

[951-Riverside]

13. Dick Cheney? n/t

[tabasco]

6. They are so beautiful.

I hope this move does not reverse the progress.

[jmowreader]

7. There's a better law out there to protect eagles

It's called the Bald and Golden Eagle Protection Act of 1940, which is more protective of the eagle than the Endangered Species Act would be.

If you read the article at the link, you'll see that a freeper named Edmund Contowski, who hates government regulations so much he won't wear a seatbelt, had an eagle pair build a nest on his land and now he can't develop the land for 330 feet around the aerie. Now he's trying to get all the eagle laws overturned, starting with the ESA, so he can pillage the land to suit his needs.

[alarimer]

12. That's really what this is about

Freepers HATE the ESA and similar laws because it means they can't rape and pillage the land to put up some ugly-ass houses or strip malls. They will point to this and other successes and say "see, we don't need the ESA anymore". Thank God we got rid of Richard Pombo who was the worst of them and with a Democratic Congress we should be able to stop further efforts to water down environmental laws.

I didn't see this in the article but why do they have to de-list it altogether? Why not just lower the listing from endangered to threatened or some lower level? 7000 pairs for the entire continental US does not seem like a whole hell of a lot to me. Delisting them altogether just makes it less costly for those jackasses who like to shoot eagles to get away with doing so. And NO ONE should be allowed to shoot them for their feathers.

[jmowreader]

15. The Bald and Golden Eagle Protection Act is a better law here anyway

All the ESA works on is numbers. If there are X number of eagles they get X1 protection, Y number of eagles get Y1 protection and so on.

When I'm elected President I will declare the eagle a Living National Monument. As a Living National Monument it will receive the same protections as it would have as an endangered species, even though right now it's not endangered. Remember that the number one threat to eagles is DDT, which thins their eggshells to the point where nesting eagles crush them.

Now here's where ESA gets weird on eagles: googling shows that the bald eagle was listed in 1978 as endangered in 43 states, threatened in Washington, Oregon, Minnesota, Wisconsin and Michigan, and not listed in Alaska. There were no bald eagles in Hawaii. In 1995, the eagle was changed from endangered to threatened in the 43 states, left as threatened in the five states, and left unlisted in Alaska--there are many eagles there. They still refuse to live in Hawaii.

[iamjoy]

10. Don't Tell Stephen Colbert (eom)

[alarimer]

11. I am glad that the eagle has recovered sufficiently

BUT it deserves full protection under the law anyway. No hunting, no shooting of these birds, no disturbing their nests, simply because of their status as a symbol.

[truthisfreedom]

14. Nice to know that the law worked to help the Bald Eagle to recover.

It's a good thing they didn't call it "the war on" something, because it would have failed miserably.

[robcon]

16. Thank the end of DDT for their survival.

This is a triumph of environmental policy.