Good Eagle News And Bad Eagle News

The good news is that the bald eagle is off the endangered species list:

Bald eagles no longer endangered
SURVIVAL TOUTED AS PROOF THAT 1973 SPECIES ACT NEEDED
By H. Josef Hebert
Associated Press
Article Launched: 06/28/2007 01:30:53 AM PDT

WASHINGTON - The American bald eagle, a national symbol once almost wiped out by hunters and DDT poisoning, has not only survived but is thriving.

The Interior Department will announce today it is removing the majestic bird from the protection of the Endangered Species Act, capping a four-decade struggle for recovery.

Government biologists have counted nearly 10,000 mating pairs of bald eagles, including at least one pair in each of 48 contiguous states, giving assurance that the bird's survival is no longer in jeopardy.

The eagle population hit bottom in 1963 when only 417 mating pairs could be documented in the 48 states and its future survival as a species was in doubt.

There were once believed to be as many as a half million bald eagles in North America, predating the Europeans' arrival. The Continental Congress put the bird onto the country's official seal in 1782, although Benjamin Franklin preferred the turkey and called the eagle a "bird of bad moral character."

[...]

Conservationists called the eagle recovery a vindication of the 1973 Endangered Species Act, which has been under attack from property rights and business groups, and the subject of internal review at the Interior Department ... John Kostyack of the National Wildlife Federation called the eagle resurgence "truly one of America's great wildlife success stories" that shows the federal law is needed and can work.

But old Ben may have been more right than he knew. The bad news?

From the same story:

Earlier this year, a federal court directed Interior to make a decision on the bird's status by this Friday, acting in a lawsuit by a Minnesota man who complained the government's delays kept him from developing seven acres that included an eagle's nest.

That's right:

The eagle was not removed because it was determined that the Endangered Species Act was a success.

It was not removed to show us how we might actually be making PROGRESS towards NOT killing every life form on the planet, ourselves included.

It was removed, because it was in the way of a guy who wanted to bulldoze seven acres of pristine wild land.

The eagle was in the way of the Almighty Dollar, and, therefore, was reclassified. The bulldozers rejoice! Huzzah!

Oh well: perhaps the newly reinvigorated bald eagle can find another nation to represent -- one not so addicted to greed and fatal hubris.

On a side note, I understand that fried bald eagle is very tasty.

Tastes like chickenhawk.

Courage.