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Show Change in thinking Raptors serve useful purposes VVes Shields Conservation Officer One October morning I stood motionless at the edge of a roadway overlooking a remote but popular reservoir and watched a fair sized bird, its rapid, punctual wingbeat carrying it 200 feet above the waters surface. Fickle mountain breezes were taunting the reservoirs sky-blue water, the gentle gusts disturbing distur-bing the waters glassy calm in the rising sun, artistically creating rippling mosaics. The bird above was an Osprey. busy doing what it knew how best -hunting fish. I watched as it studied the water below. Only when the Osprey's flight carried it over a calm on the surface did its reconnaisance end, the bird diving from its lofty height, exploding the waters stillness, and then, as deliberate as it had entered, the Osprey left the water, shaking its feathers free of wetness and flying away with a fish clenched in its piercing talons. Our birds of prey are viewed by us humans with mixed emotions. I w atched the Osprey's activities with respect and delight. I watched with an understanding un-derstanding and an appreciation of its existence in relation to mine. Another person could have witnessed the same episode and possibly only have been embittered em-bittered by the loss of a fish from the favorite fishing hole, no feelings beyond this. But, thafs the way it is. Some thrill to the sight of a soaring hawk or eagle. Others see them as threats to themselves and wildlife. Man is the number one threat i to Utah's birds of prey. It is often my experience to find these birds lying dead at the foot of power poles or fence posts, or hung on a barbwire fence, as a show of valor I guess, by an imperceptive shooter. Studies indicate man's detrimental effects. "During a two year study in Cedar Valley, in northern Utah, a total of 48 dead raptors were found. Thirty-eight Thirty-eight of these raptors were found along an abandoned pole line paralleled by a road. No dead raptors were found along the pole line which was not parallel to a road. Over half the birds killed were eagles. The study "... shooting was the cause of death for a majority of the raptors found." (Raptors of Utah, UDWLR) Perhaps the single most contributing factor to raptor abuse by the citizenry stems from ignorance in relation to these birds' life roles and behavior. Indiscriminate killing of hawks, eagles and owls has been common place in years past because people felt these birds were doing serious damage to wildlife and livestock. Sure, there are instances where poultry are taken or even instances in-stances where livestock have been taken by eagles. However, these iastances are the exception rather than the rule. Where individual raptors have developed a taste for livestock or poultry, shooting of the individual depredating bird seems justified. "The uninformed person has initiated prejudicial killing in many parts of the world In the 1920's. 30's, and 40 s thousands of Bald Eagles were killed in Alaska for bounty. The fishing industry claimed they were competing with man for the salmon. However, eagles were feeding mainly on the dying salmon that had spawned, a resource not used commercially. Full protection of the eagles in recent years has not brought about a decrease in the number of fish taken commercially, but any annual or cyclic decrease is a function of the biology of the fish, total environmental forces and man's mismanagement. Kagles and salmon have undergone un-dergone thousands of years of co-evolution co-evolution without any significant impact on the salmon " (op. cit. ) "One of the most illustrious examples of man's ignorance is the Bounty Act of 1H85 in Pennsylvania. Penn-sylvania. Approximately $90,000 was paid for bounty of raptors in a year and a half period because raptors were said to be taking a heavy toll of poultry. The dollar value of the poultry taken was estimated at $1.875 00. Furthermore, Fur-thermore, most of the raptors killed were beneficial to man because of the nxlent.s and insects in-sects they ate. The estimated worth of each raptor to the farmer was $20 .00 per year. Thus, the destruction of hawks and owls cost the state of Pennsylvania Penn-sylvania some S3.8r0.ooo to save less than $2. (too worth of poultry-" l0P- cltJ These examples are widespread, and in the face of the mountainous amount of data available there is no excuse for the indiscriminate shooting of raptors in Utah Laws have been enacted to protect all species of hawks, eagles and owls In Utah the person killing any of these birds is in violation of both state and federal law and subject to stiff penalties and fines upon prosecution |