American Bald Eagle Off Endangered List
July 4, 1999 - 0:0
WASHINGTON The American bald eagle is no longer endangered but still apparently free-spirited, as President Bill Clinton learned on Friday, when an eagle named Challenger took a nip at his hand at a White House ceremony. Clinton and Challenger were together for an event to proclaim the expected removal of the eagle, a U.S. national symbol, from the endangered species list after 32 years.
The regal-looking bird, too accustomed to humans to survive in the wild, was drafted for the well-scripted pre-Independence Day event on the White House South Lawn and sat obediently on a perch atop a framed U.S. flag while Clinton, Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt and Levar Simms, a young representative of the Eagle Conservation Corps, made speeches. When Clinton moved from the speaker's lectern over to the perch for a flag-draped photo, Challenger made his move, first going beak-to-nose with the president, then leaning his head challengingly close to Clinton's shoulder and finally taking a peck at Clinton's hand that made the president jump back.
Calling the bald eagle "the living symbol of our democracy," Clinton said the eagle was chosen because it had "a free spirit ... high soaring and courageous," in Thomas Jefferson's words. "Even as its likeness was known the world over as the very symbol of our might and our independence, here in America the eagle struggled barely to survive," Clinton said.
When the United States was born, he said, as many as half a million bald eagles lived in North America; 200 years later, only a few hundred breeding pairs existed in the contiguous 48 states. Bald eagles were first declared endangered in 1967, due to hunting, loss of prey and habitat and widespread use of the pesticide DDT, which made the birds' eggs too fragile to survive.
In 1995 the eagle was upgraded from endangered to threatened, and on Friday the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service formally proposed the eagle be declared fully recovered. Final action is due in one year. Clinton also pushed his $1 billion plan for next fiscal year to preserve critical wildlife habitat and other national treasures and provide new assistance to communities to protect farms, city parks and other local green spaces.
He said he was "disappointed" this week when House and Senate committees voted to cut funds for this program. "All through our century, we have found ways to pull together across party lines to stand up for the environment, for wildlife, for our natural heritage," Clinton said. "I hope we can do that again." If, as expected, the bald eagle is removed from the endangered species list next July, federal officials will still keep monitoring eagles for at least five years.
If the population declines significantly, bald eagles will go back on the list. (Reuter)
The regal-looking bird, too accustomed to humans to survive in the wild, was drafted for the well-scripted pre-Independence Day event on the White House South Lawn and sat obediently on a perch atop a framed U.S. flag while Clinton, Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt and Levar Simms, a young representative of the Eagle Conservation Corps, made speeches. When Clinton moved from the speaker's lectern over to the perch for a flag-draped photo, Challenger made his move, first going beak-to-nose with the president, then leaning his head challengingly close to Clinton's shoulder and finally taking a peck at Clinton's hand that made the president jump back.
Calling the bald eagle "the living symbol of our democracy," Clinton said the eagle was chosen because it had "a free spirit ... high soaring and courageous," in Thomas Jefferson's words. "Even as its likeness was known the world over as the very symbol of our might and our independence, here in America the eagle struggled barely to survive," Clinton said.
When the United States was born, he said, as many as half a million bald eagles lived in North America; 200 years later, only a few hundred breeding pairs existed in the contiguous 48 states. Bald eagles were first declared endangered in 1967, due to hunting, loss of prey and habitat and widespread use of the pesticide DDT, which made the birds' eggs too fragile to survive.
In 1995 the eagle was upgraded from endangered to threatened, and on Friday the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service formally proposed the eagle be declared fully recovered. Final action is due in one year. Clinton also pushed his $1 billion plan for next fiscal year to preserve critical wildlife habitat and other national treasures and provide new assistance to communities to protect farms, city parks and other local green spaces.
He said he was "disappointed" this week when House and Senate committees voted to cut funds for this program. "All through our century, we have found ways to pull together across party lines to stand up for the environment, for wildlife, for our natural heritage," Clinton said. "I hope we can do that again." If, as expected, the bald eagle is removed from the endangered species list next July, federal officials will still keep monitoring eagles for at least five years.
If the population declines significantly, bald eagles will go back on the list. (Reuter)