LA Times, Wires, etc: Chalk one up for Rachel Carson – Brown Pelican is off the feds’ list
Now don’t go thinking you can go shoot at them, net them, deliberately try to hook them with your fishing lures, kick their nests apart, or anything else likely to make them rarer. Such predations are still illegal. But brown pelicans, among icons of the battle decades ago against pollution and its impacts on wildlife, is on the shortlist to be delisted quick from the protections of the U.S. Endangered Species Act, says the Department of the Interior. They’d been on there since 1970 when DDT accumulating in their prey rendered most of their eggs too thin-shelled to survive (as it did to several other birds too). Some opponents of government meddling in business have blamed Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring for stirring hysteria over DDT and other pesticides, perhaps spurring a rise in malaria. The book also was seminal in making the environmental beat a prominent one at big news outlets. And the sharp restrictions on DDTs use, enacted in part under public pressure, do seem to have rendered a service to ecosystems and to people who need them around the world. The Tracker sure missed the big birds when they were rare, loves to see so many now. White pelicans seem prettier, but these are cooler. They always look to me, as they glide resolutely along in precise formations low over the waves with their huge bills to the fore, like pterosaurs.
The Interior Secretary got on the phone to tell reporters all about it, one reason this is getting plenty of coverage.
Stories:
- AP – Dina Cappiello : Gov’t says brown pelicans are endangered no longer;
- Reuters – Deborah Zabarenko: Brown pelican no longer endangered: US ;
- AFP – Karin Zeitvogel: US takes brown pelican off endangered species list ;
- LA Times – Jim Tankersely: Brown Pelican removed from endangered species list / A century-long effort to protect the bird is no longer necessary, federal officials say.
- Wall St. Journal – Kristina Peterson : Brown Pelican Removed From Endangered List ;
New Orleans Times-Picayune – Christine Harvey : Brown pelican no longer an endangered species ; For her, a local story. She lives in the Pelican state, and the formal announcement was at a nearby wildlife refuge. See story also for great pictures.- Environment News Service: Brown Pelican Soars Off U.S. Endangered Species List ;
- Santa Cruz Sentinel – Shanna McCord (+ AP) : Brown pelican bounces back from brink of extinction ;
Grist for the Mill: Dept. of Interior Press Release ;
Pic source ;
- Charlie Petit
