In
some areas populations and species of raptors are threatened
with extinction -- more so than many other kinds of birds.
There are five reasons. First, raptors are often directly
persecuted by people who believe (usually erroneously) that
these birds are a threat to livestock. The antiquated notion
that birds of prey are "varmints" remains entrenched, and
many otherwise law-abiding farmers and ranchers kill hawks
and eagles, while some "hunters" take potshots at them. This
is illegal, since raptors are federally protected against
wanton shooting. Second, a great many hawks,
falcons, and owls are taken for an illegal taxidermy trade,
mainly in Europe. Reportedly thousands of Northern Goshawks
are slaughtered and stuffed each year in China
alone. Third, falcons are illegally
trapped by smugglers lured by the enormous price that the
birds will bring in the Middle East, where falconry is a
high-prestige activity for the elite. The majority of
falcons used by the Arabs are migrant Sakers (Falco cherrug)
from Asia. Sakers are a species that is rather like a
slightly smaller version of the Gyrfalcon. Gyrfalcons
themselves, because of their long wings and large size, are
especially prized. Members of the Middle Eastern royal
families have reportedly paid up to $100,000 each for
healthy specimens of these arctic raptors, of which perhaps
only 4,000-5,000 live in North America. It is not clear,
however, whether hunting, trapping, or nest-robbing of
falcons has ever led to widespread permanent reductions in
falcon populations. Cornell ornithologist Tom J. Cade
suspects that birds killed by hunters or taken by falconers
are largely part of the "expendable" surplus produced by
falcon populations. Fourth, raptors are
generally rather long-lived birds and feed high on food
chains, which makes them more susceptible than short-lived
or plant-eating species to poisoning by pesticides and other
pollutants. Poisons accumulate in organisms over time, and
poisons become concentrated as they move up food chains.
There is no question that toxic substances have had
catastrophic impacts on the populations of some raptors.
Peregrine Falcons, for instance, were eliminated from much
of North America through the large-scale use of DDT and its
relatives, which began shortly after World War II. By 1964
Peregrines had been exterminated east of the Mississippi.
They subsequently continued to decline sharply in the West
and North. Laws have been promulgated
to limit the use of persistent pesticides that threaten
raptors. The application of DDT has been largely banned in
the United States since 1972, although it is a contaminant
in dicofol (the main ingredient of Kelthane), a related
chlorinated hydrocarbon pesticide, which is legally used.
(There may also be illegal use of DDT itself.) Finally, raptors, especially
large ones, often suffer from habitat destruction, which
makes areas with sufficient space for home ranges or
suitable nesting sites scarce. This is the overriding
problem for tropical forest eagles. Laws now attempt to protect
raptors from the depredations of hunters. Some individuals
have been prosecuted under the Endangered Species Act for
killing Bald Eagles. Fines as high as $5,000 and jail terms
of up to six months have been dealt out to those convicted
of this crime, which is being taken more seriously as time
passes. And in 1984, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
arrested 39 people suspected of being involved in illegal
commerce in falcons. In addition to legal
protection, steps can be taken to help preserve raptor
populations in deteriorating habitats. For example,
provision of artificial nesting sites has led to an increase
in Osprey populations and shows potential for doing the same
for Bald Eagles. In one ingenious program, Osprey nest poles
were dropped like darts from helicopters into coastal salt
marshes. Another helpful step toward protecting many large
raptors, as we are often reminded through magazine and
television advertisements, has been providing insulated
perches on the tops of power poles carrying high voltage
power lines. Populations of the Peregrine
Falcon have been reestablished in areas from which it had
been exterminated. Tom Cade pioneered a program of captive
breeding and releasing primarily in the eastern United
States, where DDT-induced breeding failures had led to the
falcon's extirpation. After the use of DDT was banned in
1972, the birds could once again survive there; with skill
and persistence Cade's team started the species on the road
to recovery in the wild. Recovery to the pre-DDT level of
some 400 breeding pairs in the eastern United States may be
rapid. In 1978 no pairs nested in the East; in 1984, 27
pairs did. In 1985 there were 38 breeding pairs, and young
were fledged by at least 16 pairs. In addition, during the
summer of 1985, 125 young Peregrines reared in captivity
were released in the eastern United States and 135 in the
West. In 1986 there were 43 territorial pairs, and 25 of
them fledged 53 young. Due to efforts by the Peregrine Fund
of Boise, Idaho, these numbers continue to improve. As of
1995, there were 98 breeding pair in the East, 68 in the
Midwest and 829 in the West. Legal protection against
shooting, capturing and poisoning, habitat improvement, and
reestablishment programs all help preserve birds of prey,
but in the long run these measures alone will not be enough.
Without public education about raptors' esthetic and direct
economic value, laws are likely to contain too many
loopholes and will likely be enforced with insufficient
vigor. And as with the entire extinction problem, long-term
solutions almost certainly will depend on changing attitudes
toward our fellow creatures, and reduction of the
appropriation of Earth's resources by Homo sapiens. Until
then, habitat destruction will continue to accelerate the
loss of species -- both spectacular ones that attract our
interest and more obscure ones on which our favorites (and
we) often depend. SEE:
Birds
and the Law;
DDT
and Birds;
Conservation
of the California Condor. Copyright
® 1988 by Paul R. Ehrlich, David S. Dobkin, and Darryl
Wheye.