Talk to you next year...
A couple of months later, a report was made that the skeletal remains of the chick was found at the bottom of the tree supporting the nest. The reason for the chick's demise was unknown.
To make a long story short, we had eagles nesting in our area in the 1930's and we used to climb up on an overlooking hill and watch the mothers take care of their chicks.
We were warned by our parents not to go near the nests because our scent would cause the eagles to abandon the nest and cause the death of the chicks.
Since, I have learned that this rule governs most animals in the wild for the preservation of the parents is more important than the single litter or hatch. We see banding and harassing of wild species by wildlife experts and reports of the fragile balance of nature. Most of it is caused by stupidity on the part of these experts that do not know their animals.
Jere's tje tacoma news Tribune article. Whoa, room spinnnninggggg
Um, I'm looking for a newspaper that isn't just going off the Wash. Times and/or AP stories & adding their own commentary...
December 23, 2001
The News Tribune
Lynxgate this is not.
Critics of efforts to protect the Canada lynx gleefully pounced on last week's disclosure that a handful of wildlife biologists planted captive fur samples in a federal survey of the cat's historic range. But the news hardly discredits the science being done to document the lynx' current habitat in the northern United States. At worst, it exposes the dishonesty of those seven biologists. At best, it exposes their unbelievable foolishness.
Right now, foolishness would seem to be the likely explanation. The survey in question is an annual affair that involves collecting fur samples from the wild and sending them to a laboratory for DNA analysis. According to the official story, the biologists were doubtful about the laboratory's ability to identify lynx fur; they decided to test the analysis by submitting samples from captive lynxes, including fur gathered from the lynx exhibit at Northwest Trek. The captive samples were included with batches of fur collected in Washington's Wenatchee and Gifford Pinchot national forests.
In support of this version, the agencies involved - the U.S. Forest Service, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the state Department of Fish and Wildlife -Êsay that the bogus samples were not counted in the survey, which reportedly showed no lynx presence in either national forest. If true - and a new investigation should get to the bottom of the story - the episode is something less than a scandal. No harm, no foul.
Even so, the foolishness remains. Jeff Koenings, the director of the state Department of Fish and Wildlife, announced on Thursday that he had barred the two state biologists involved from further research, noting that their actions were "extremely embarrassing" and "unprofessional."
Based on the evidence, Koenings' response seems about right. Threatened species research has real consequences: Habitat findings can lead to restrictions on logging and other activities that support human life. In the political realm, such restrictions can only be justified with rock-solid science. Blunders or deceptions that undermine the public's faith in that science do no favor to the Canada lynx and other wild creatures.