I found this article pretty interesting. There is no question that AZGF makes monies available for non-game species. Whatever the path taken, let’s hope it’s the best one for the eagles…
From The Arizona Republic
Bald eagles’ future in flux
New agreement spells out treatment of birds on or off endangered listKate Nolan
The Arizona Republic
Jan. 27, 2007 12:00 AMA 20-year-old eagle named Liberty perched motionless on a stick, his predator eyes lasered on an unlikely scene.
A few dozen humans led by Delmar Boni, a traditional healer of the San Carlos Apaches, were acting out an eagle dance, flapping their arms, dipping at the knees, not looking very much like the state and federal officials, naturalists and members of the press they were.
The occasion was a meeting this week at the Phoenix Zoo, where Duane Shroufe, director of Arizona Game and Fish Department, signed a new agreement that spells out how Arizona bald eagles will be handled, whether or not they lose their endangered-species protection as expected in February. The dance was part of a ceremony to honor the bird as officials discussed its fate.
No one would argue that the destiny of the North American bald eagle hasn’t changed.
The national bird was on the fast track to annihilation by pesticides in the 1970s, was placed on the endangered-species list and in 1999 the federal government proposed delisting it because its numbers had grown so much under the federal protections.
But since then, its fate has seemed forever up in the air, as various government bodies, from U.S. Fish and Wildlife to the federal courts, weighed the mountain of comments and legal actions that have resulted from the proposed delisting. A court in Minnesota ordered the feds to decide by Feb. 16 whether to delist the eagle.
In Arizona, conservationists have sued to have the southwestern bald eagle viewed as a special case that can be listed on its own. more…
