Thursday, March 10, 2016

I really want to know if Republicans care about the natural world?

That's a dead Bald Eagle. They are priceless. Do Republicans realize that. The American Bald Eagle can't be incorporated and sold for a profit. Priceless. And to think such status would actually protect them. How naive can a country get?

10 March 2016
By Oliver Milman

The dead eagles were found on 20 February and were thought to have fallen victim to a disease – but now officials say ‘these were human-caused deaths’

Wildlife officials (click here) have said 13 bald eagles found dead in Maryland last month did not die from natural causes. A hunt for whomever killed the birds is under way.
The bodies of the 13 eagles were found in a field in Federalsburg, Maryland on 20 February. It was first thought the birds may have fallen victim to Avian flu or another disease, but after necropsies by the US Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) this possibility has been ruled out.
Neil Mendelsohn, assistant special agent in charge for the USFWS’s north-east region, urged people to come forward with information.
“We know these were human-caused deaths and someone has got to know something,” he said. “This is a very serious situation, the worst eagle kill I’ve seen.
“This kind of thing does happen and it seems to be happening more and more across the north-east. We’ve seen eagles shot and poisoned.”
The USFWS is not providing details on how the eagles were killed but Mendelsohn said the agency was “actively pursuing the case and all lines of enquiry”.
The deaths have prompted the USFWS and private conservation groups to put up rewards for information leading to arrest and conviction. A total of $25,000 is on offer....

Budget cuts weaken our protections of the wild lands of the USA, including the protections of Maryland's American Bald Eagles.

The House Appropriations Committee (click here) passed a fiscal year 2012 (FY12) Interior and Environment Appropriations Bill on July 12 that included substantial cuts to agency spending and key conservation programs, as well as policy riders impacting natural resource related issues, reports the Wildlife Management Institute. After 10 hours of debate on amendments, the bill was passed on a party line vote sending it to the full U.S. House of Representatives for consideration later this month.

Overall, the bill would fund the Department of the Interior (DOI) at $9.9 billion, $720 million less than it received in the fiscal year 2011 (FY11) continuing resolution and $1.2 billion less than the President’s request.  The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s (FWS) allocation would be cut $500 million from its budget request ($315 million less than FY11) to $1.2 billion, the largest agency cut for the entire Department.  The Bureau of Land Management would be funded at $1 billion ($63 million less than FY11); the National Park Service would be allocated $2.5 billion (a $129 million reduction from FY11); and the U.S. Geological Survey would receive $1.05 billion ($30 million less than FY11).  The USDA Forest Service would be funded at $4.5 billion—a $164-million cut from FY11 and $412 million less than the President’s budget request....