I understand the knee-jerk negative reaction. The Peregrine Falcon is a bird near and dear to most birders' hearts, including mine. But I personally have not made up my mind one way or the other about the proposal (I would want to study it more). But I did want to make a few points that I have not seen made in this thread yet:
-- duck hunters are a big reason we have as much habitat preservation as we do in the United States. Politically, their support of the National Wildlife Refuge System and other initiatives has been very important. Like duck hunters, falconers are also likely people who would support conservation initiatives. So regardless of your opinion of the activities of those who have a less benign relationship with wildlife than birders, it is arguably counterproductive (and probably extreme) to demonize them. Politically, birders, hunters, falconers, and others who have an appreciation for wildlife can form a powerful coalition to support conservation and environmental initiatives.
You have a point there Jim, and this is an interesting argument. In the UK, there's lots of coastal marshland which is invaluable for wildlife, but only because it is owned/leased and managed by wildfowling syndicates/organisations. They want good habitat for their ducks, so at the very least, resist the temptations of development or changing management practice. However, as unpalatable as it is to birders, at the very least the wildfowlers are contributing something to "conservation", even if it comes at a heavy price.
Now I'll admit this is where I stray into ignorance, but as far as I'm aware, falconers don't own any land, and don't directly benefit any habitat they may use when they're flying their birds. They are taking from the wildlife pool twice over - once when they harvest the wild falcons, and again if they allow their birds to catch and kill wild prey.
Whilst I appreciate your view that, in general, falconers, wildfowlers can, however uncomfortably, form political/lobbying bedfellows with birders or other conservationists, the cause of so much ire on this thread is the proposal to harvest WILD BIRDS. What's wrong with captive breeding?
-- the Fish and Wildlife Service is not a completely apolitical agency. Its head is appointed by the president. This President has a strong record of anti-environmental policy initiatives, so I would put little weight on the fact that "his" Fish and Wildlife Service supports this initiative. The Department of Interior, which is the larger agency of which the Fish and Wildlife Service is a part, has also been wracked recently by numerous scandals, which further undermines the credibility of recommendations emanating from its agencies.
I had read this somewhere before, but I wasn't 100% sure. The USFWS isn't an apolitical animal, like the RSPB over here. It's subject to the whims of whichever President is in charge at the time. How has the current USFWS administration reacted to the Alaskan oilfields proposal for example? (a little off-thread, I know - apologies).
-- Pretty much everyone, including birders, exploits birds in various ways. The most obvious is for food; we systematically slaughter chickens as a food source. I think people tend to forget about this because the act of killing the chicken is relegated to a few individuals and separated from the mass of people who eat the chickens. Of course, chickens have been domesticated, but I am not sure that automatically makes their exploitation more legitimate. And vegetarians would argue that their exploitation is not necessary to feed people; so it could be argued that we are exploiting them for our pleasure as well.
Again, a valid point, but now who's being divisive? I fail to see what this has to do with harvesting wild Peregrines. If you make the point that we exploit chickens, or ducks for eating, or even cows and pigs, then the accusation of hypocrisy could be levelled at virtually every conservation initiative. And THAT would be counterproductive!
I think it's good to see an objective post on this subject, but I think pretty much every birder posting on this thread (including me) will have the same angry, horrified opposition to this proposal.
