Lost Golden in Washington State

[SimoneBird]

Just received this email:

Greetings,

Please be on the lookout for a male Golden Eagle with ankle bracelets and
jesses lost in the Spanaway area when the intense winds blew open the hawk
house door last Friday. The bird was seen around the Spanaway general area
until Sunday. He could turn up anywhere in the South Puget Sound.

If you see or locate this bird, please contact:

Brian Kellogg [phone]
[e-mail]

[alex2]

Oh no, Brians been having some terrible luck. First the Female Golden, now this.

[raptrlvr]

Brian has had this eagle for about 5 or 6 years. This is the same bird I flew for him for 7 months while Brian took care of some medical problems. The bird was extremely fat as it was recuperating from the female eagle almost chrushing him. I think this bird will probably show up, looking for food. I am not sure it can even hunt, as it had a bad hip and not much strength in the one leg.

[SimoneBird]

Good news: Wapaha is back! Check out the story at:
komo4news.com/stories/42010.htm

[m4tt]

"A pet golden eagle" grrrr lol

[raptrlvr]

This is not a "pet golden eagle". It is a falconry bird that has been flown for about 4 years by Brian.

[m4tt]

i know.. but it says Pet.. and that PISSES ME OFF they should make it known that it is not apet. that it is a wild animal!!!

[jfseaman]

Matt,

Chill. The problem with saying it's a wild animal is the anti's will want it returned to the wild.

This was a nice gentle article showing the relationship, commitment and reason for the falconer to have the bird. The anti's can't say let your pet go. Great public awareness.

Who gives a hoot of the public thinks they are our pets. I think it would be good if they were thought of as pets. There are bad parts of the public thinking raptors could be pets but the good parts out weight the bad parts.

Good, it's pretty bad press for anti's to say let your pet go in the wild.
Good, there are so many raptors and so well managed they can be pets.
Good, the special nature of a raptor is somewhat remove in the view of the public.
Good, how can millions of dollars of law enforcement money be spent on regulation and enforcement for pets be justified, reduce the regulations, not the quality of apprenticeship or falconry, just the regulations.

Bad, the public don't know how legally difficult it is to keep a raptor.
Bad, the Harry Potter effect, how technically difficult it is to keep a raptor.

In my view the good far outweighs the bad. If there were reduced regulation, more concentration on public awareness by USFWS and DOE/DFG, the idiots who do stupid things like shooting raptors or poisoning could be reduced. More birds for falconry.

If you read www.themodernapprentice.com/5yr_study.doc and take out the cases that were not falconers and take out the cases that were paper work, there would be very few cases and few if any charges.

(don't flame on the following comment, read it properly)

From an ecological point of view raptors are no more special than rabbits, deer, bear, boar, elk, grouse, ducks, pheasants, dear, woodpeckers, fish or any wild creature. They are all part of the system. If man is going to mess with the system by hunting then apply the same rules to all levels of hunting regulation. USFWS and DOE/DFG should provide awareness, licensing (and the required education for the license) and poaching enforcement. The law enforcement orgs don't (yet) have the right to come to your home 24/7/365 if you have a gun permit and hunting license. Why for raptors do we have to give up our right of protection against illegal search and seizure? Out side if the permitting process spot inspections are a phishing attempt by law enforcement. There is no justification. I feel it is unconstitutional.

When out in the field we should be able and willing to provide proof of permit and license same as any other hunting or fishing. But not at home unless fowl play is suspected.

Let the public think they are pets. Get some public support.
Let the public know we are subject to inspection. Get some public support.
Let the public know how hard we work. Get some public support.
Let the public know many how much we do for rescue and rehab. Get some public support.
Let the public know that there are licenses. Get some public support.

I feel we make our own case worse by getting on this high horse that raptors are not pets. Admit it, they are pets! We may borrow them for awhile and return them to the wild but they are pets. They have a very special job to us, same as a specialized dog or a horse but they are pets www.answers.com/pet&r=67.

I can go on but I'll save it for the flames.

[alex2]

If we're going to start a Discussion about " Raptors as Pets?"

Could we do so on another thread? Its somewhat off topic and I was hoping on Locking this thread.

[m4tt]

haha im with wolf! ill make the thread!


Link to "Raptors As Pets!"

apfalconry.proboards19.com/index.cgi?board=general&action=display&thread=1140683372&page=1

[Falcon Boy]

Im glad he got him back