Gobble, gobble:Just a quick note to remind whiner diner Nicole Huntley, who responded to Marty Jones's November 22 "Dead Bird Walking" in the November 29 Letters section, that all of us who consumed dead birds on Thanksgiving did so as a natural function of survival as well as a spiritual homage. I am also compelled to remind her that if she thinks eating only the flora of planet Earth will somehow not involve death in the food chain, she needs to go back to high school -- and this time pay attention in science class. All of the plants and micro-organisms that were slaughtered for her delicious little feast had lives as well. And I suspect her excrement is just as malodorous as that of the "meat eaters," in case she is still deluding herself into thinking she is somehow better than the rest of us.
Ancel Phelps
Denver
Give Them the Bird!
High flyers: Great job! I thought Eric Dexheimer's "A Wing and a Prayer," in the November 22 issue, was articulate and very unbiased. I am a falconer living in Boulder, and I agree with the falconer's side of the story. To be able to take a wild peregrine again is every falconer's dream. Sure, we can get one from a breeder, but put it this way: Would you rather fish from a trout farm or from a raging river?
Rob Palmer
Boulder
Bird brains:The Colorado Hawking Club recently petitioned the Colorado Wildlife Commission for the right to remove four peregrine falcon chicks from the nest for use in the sport of falconry. There are many compelling reasons to refuse this request.
The peregrine falcon, just removed from the federal list of threatened and endangered species in August 1999, is still in the early stages of a complete recovery in Colorado. A tremendous amount of time and money by public and private groups went into this recovery. The Colorado Department of Wildlife, falconers, the Peregrine Fund, the National Park Service, the U.S. Forest Service and the U.S. Bureau of Land Management all cooperated in this effort. Since then, Great Outdoors Colorado has supplied funds for the continued monitoring of the peregrine. The removal of birds from the wild for the private use of any group would demonstrate disregard for these collaborative efforts.
In 1998, the Wildlife Commission agreed to a five-year monitoring period with "no take" of peregrines. There are still two years left in this period. The previous Wildlife Commission and the public accepted these terms in good faith, and this Commission has an ethical responsibility to stand by the agreement.
Captive propagation of peregrines is extremely successful, and all of the birds needed by falconers are currently available to them through this process. The financial burden that allowing removal of falcon chicks would place on the CDOW is an unacceptable drain on an already beleaguered budget. Approving this request would create the need for an additional $30,000 to $40,000 a year in monitoring to ensure that the harvesting of peregrine nestlings does not harm populations.
Contact the Colorado Wildlife Commission (wildlife.comm@state.co.us) before its final decision on January 10, and let them know that you do not want peregrine falcon nestlings removed from the wild for use in the private sport of falconry.
Rachel Hopper
Fort Collins
