The bald eagle population has risen by almost a factor of twenty and they no longer qualify as a threatened species under the Endangered Species Act. This is a double victory (a) because a species has been saved and (b) because the species in question is a national symbol.
You’d think that this would be good news.
But some environmentalists aren’t pleased. When people first started talking about de-listing the bald eagle, some environmentalists were concerned. They didn’t want any species ever de-listed. They acted as if they wanted the endangered and threatened species lists to be a one-way list that could only gain but never lose members.
Now it remains to be seen whether the same environmentalists will try to accuse the Bush administration for “shooting the national symbol” by admitting that the bald eagle is no longer threatened.
In the mean time . . .
USA! USA! USA!
Hey…what are you doing up so late!
Oh wait…I guess it’s not that late in San Diego.
Silly Billy.
I suppose they could make a seperate list, of species which aren’t endangered but are under special protection for other reasons–eagles, as a national symbol, would qualify.
I live just east of Ann Arbor, Michigan, near a nice wetlands. We have a lot of bald eagles — and seeing them gives me a thrill. New ones appear every year!
But, Jimmy, if the bald eagle were no longer endangered, whatever would happen to the multi-million-dollar government funding for their preservation?!!
Why, it would have to be used for something else. Like preserving humans or something.