Bald Eagle's Comeback Will Allow Removal From Threatened Species List In February - Desert News

[hatrack]

In February the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service intends to announce that the bald eagle, once driven nearly to extinction in the lower 48 states, has rebounded so well that it will be taken off the list of threatened species.

The bald eagle was never in danger in Alaska but was in trouble in other parts of its range in the United States. It was placed on the endangered species list for most of the contiguous states in 1978. Seventeen years later, as recovery efforts progressed, its status was changed from endangered to threatened.

"In 1963, there were 417 nesting pairs in the lower 48, and now there's over 7,000," said Barb Perkins, spokeswoman in the service's regional office, Denver.

The bald eagle, which can have a 7-foot wingspan, was first protected by federal law in 1940. But because of diminished prey and loss of habitat, use of lead shotgun pellets fired at waterfowl and the widespread application of DDT pesticide, eagle numbers declined.

EDIT

http://deseretnews.com/dn/view/0,1249,650219494,00.html

[Greeby]

1. Just in time for Deadeye Dick to go eagle-hunting

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

2. So does that mean it will be OK to shoot and poison them again,

(:sarcasm:) which was what got them on the endangered/threatened list in the first place?

They have become much more common. Just the other day I saw one flying over a freeway in Minneapolis, and a few years ago I had a near-miss with one while flying a light airplane. Nevertheless, it bothers me that they are being taken of the threatened list, because once they are, they will soon become threatened again.

[XemaSab]

5. There will still be many laws protecting eagles

Including the migratory bird treaty act, the eagle protection act, and many state laws.

It will not be legal to shoot eagles.

edited to add link:

http://www.r6.fws.gov/law/eagle/

[Richard D]

3. Next whitehouse Thanksgiving dinner . . .

. . . Bald Eagle stuffed with chestnuts?

[emmadoggy]

4. It's amazing how common it has become to see bald eagles

along the Mississippi. For the past 18 years or so, I have lived in WI, MN and IA - all in locations within an hour or so of the Mississippi. It has become very pleasantly common to see them - as a matter of fact, I just saw one today as we drove along the River Road to LaCrosse. They are fantastic to see and I sincerely hope they don't come off the threatened list only to end up back on it again in a few years.