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@goldilocks re 15:49 eagles were not being threatened by hunting

Posted by Mr.Copper @ 18:46 on October 12, 2021  

The DDT was not the first and only problem with eagles. I googled “were eagles almost extinct year 1900s” and found some interesting stuff about them from the 1800s way before chemicals.

Parts:

Many ornithologists believe that the eagle population numbered about half a million birds when Columbus arrived in America. Eagles lived on every river and chain of lakes on the continent. When John James Audubon traveled throughout much of the continent painting birds in the early and mid-1800s, he was very concerned about how scarce eagles were becoming. He wrote, “A century hence they will not be here as I see them, Nature will have been robbed of many brilliant charms.”

What Happened?
Sure enough, a century after Audubon wrote those prophetic words, eagles were, indeed, gone from most of their early haunts. What had happened to them? A whole variety of things:

  • People competed for the same fish the eagles needed
  • People drained wetlands
  • People cut down forests where eagles nested
  • People shot thousands of eagles. Between 1917 and 1953, over 100,000 eagles were killed in Alaska alone because fishermen were afraid the eagles would eat the fish the people wanted. Some people still sell eagle talons and feathers on the black market.
  • Animals shot by people were eaten by scavenging eagles, who swallowed bullets and lead shot and got lead poisoning
  • People set leg traps for fur-bearing animals like beavers and muskrats, and for wild predators like coyotes and wolves, sometimes accidentally catching and killing eagles.
  • Animals poisoned by people were eaten by scavenging eagles who got poisoned, too.
  • By the end of the 1800s, eagle numbers had dropped dramatically. In the 1930s, people became so concerned that they drafted the Bald Eagle Act, which was passed in 1940.
  • The United States officially declared the Bald Eagle an endangered species in 1967 in all areas of the United States south of the 40th parallel. The Endangered Species Act was passed in 1973, and on July 4, 1976, the US Fish and Wildlife Service officially listed the bald eagle as an endangered species over the entire nation (though it was considered “threatened,” not “endangered,” in Alaska). Strict enforcement and heavy fines prevented most (but sadly not all) eagle shooting.
  • https://journeynorth.org/tm/eagle/History.html
  • Found more, mid west region parts:
  • When America adopted the bald eagle as the national symbol in 1782, the country may have had as many as 100,000 nesting eagles. The first major decline of the species probably began in the mid to late 1800’s, coinciding with the decline of waterfowl, shorebirds, and other prey.
  • Although they primarily eat fish and carrion, bald eagles used to be considered marauders that preyed on chickens, lambs, and domestic livestock. Consequently, the large raptors were shot in an effort to eliminate a perceived threat. Coupled with the loss of nesting habitat, bald eagle populations declined.
  • https://www.fws.gov/midwest/eagle/history/recovery.html

 

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Post by the Golden Rule. Oasis not responsible for content/accuracy of posts. DYODD.