Ogden Daily Standard | 1919-11-08 | Page 4 | Killing the Birds

KILLING THE BIRDS. $ ' . Bird Island, in the center of Great Salt Lake, has been the home of the pelican, but within the past year the birds have been driven from the island and those who have investigated as to the cause have reached the conclusion that fishermen along the stretch of fresh waer near the mouth of Bear river, have raided the nesting places intent on destroying the birds which they look upon as a nuisance. Of late the department of agriculture has issued an order permitting permit-ting the shooting or trapping of the heron family, including the bittern, bit-tern, great blue heron, little blue heron, green heron, and black-crowned black-crowned night heron, by owners, superintendents, and bona fide employes em-ployes of public or private fish hatcheries where the birds are injurious in-jurious to, and destructive of, fishes at the hatcheries. All of the above-named birds are given protection under the migratory bird treaty act, approved by the president July 3, 1918, but the secretary of agriculture may permit them to be killed when, upon investigation, they are found to be seriously injurious to agricultural or other interests. inter-ests. After thorough investigation at a number of fish hatcheries in various sections of the country, it was concluded that protection against these birds was necessary for the preservation of the fishes at the hatcheries. The order is very definite and provides that every bird killed or trapped pursuant to the permission contained therein and every part of such bird, including the plumage and feathers, shall be totally de- ' stroyed as promptly as possible, and shall not be possessed, or shipped in any manner outside of the grounds and waters of the hatchery where killed or trapped, except for the purpose of destruction, provided pro-vided that such birds or parts thereof may be shipped or tiansported as a gift to public museums and public scientific and educational institutions.