Companies can now get away with killing America’s birds

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The Trump administration wants to end the decades-old practice of penalising the “incidental take” of protected birds

in 1896, a Bostonian socialite called Harriet Lawrence Hemenway read an article about the devastation of a colony of nesting birds by plume-hunters. Disgust at their grisly trade, which was eradicating millions of birds a year to meet Americans’ demand for feathery swank, surged in her like a ball of regurgitated feathers and crustaceans from a grebe’s crop. This would prove to be a turning-point in America’s relationship with nature.

Lobbying by Audubon groups helped produce a remarkable series of bird protections, including the Lacey Act of 1900 and, following a pro-bird pact with British Canada, the Migratory Bird Treaty Act of 1918, which made it illegal to harm most native birds not hunted for sport. This landmark environmental law—and model for later ones such as the Endangered Species Act—probably saved several decorative birds, such as the snowy egret and sandhill crane, from extinction.

Despite improvements in signalling electric lines, these kill even more: perhaps 25m a year. Climate change and habitat loss may be bigger threats; a recent study found America’s bird population had fallen by 30% over the past 50 years. The fact that the administration is nonetheless intent on gutting birds’ main legal protection shows how far it is from honouring its spirit—and the decades-old bipartisan consensus behind it.

 

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Terrible for 99% of birds but I swear the California Condor looks like someone stapled a pair of testicles to a vulture. If it goes extinct, this policy wont have been the 'absolute worst'

I believe Mao tried the same thing.

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