Times editorial blasts Bush administration on Endangered Species Act

Earlier this week, L.A. Unleashed posted that the Bush administration had proposed a regulatory overhaul of the Endangered Species Act that would allow federal agencies to decide on their own if their projects would affect animals protected by the act.

A Times editorial published today weighs in on the matter, criticizing the move on a variety of levels from the possibility of corruption to the timing of the proposal:

Because of a 30-day public comment period, instead of the usual 60 or 90 days, the rule could be adopted and in place before the presidential election. Though it might well be overturned by Congress, the courts or perhaps a new administration, the process would take months, giving federal agencies the chance to push through their projects.

-- Francisco Vara-Orta

Photo: Alex Wong / Getty Images

Scientific review may now be endangered

The Bush administration Monday proposed a regulatory overhaul of the Endangered Species Act that would allow federal agencies to decide on their own if their projects would affect animals protected by the act (such as the bald eagle, pictured above), the Washington Post reports.

The proposal's move to eliminate the independent scientific reviews that have been required for more than three decades has prompted sharp criticism from animal activists, scientists and politicans who have said the Bush administration and Republican establishment have wanted to go soft on the law.

The Post's Juliet Eilperin reports on the see-saw of reaction:

In a telephone call with reporters, Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne described the rules as a "narrow regulatory change" that "will provide clarity and certainty to the consultation process under the Endangered Species Act."

But environmentalists and congressional Democrats blasted the proposal as a last-minute attempt by the administration to bring about dramatic changes in the law. For more than a decade, congressional Republicans have been trying unsuccessfully to rewrite the act, which property owners and developers say imposes unreasonable economic costs.

Bob Irvin, senior vice president of conservation programs at the advocacy group Defenders of Wildlife, questioned how some federal agencies could make the assessments, when most do not have wildlife biologists on staff.

"Clearly, that's a case of asking the fox to guard the chicken coop," Irvin said, adding that the original law created "a giant caution light that made federal agencies stop and think about the impacts of their actions. What the Bush administration is telling those agencies is they don't have to think about those impacts anymore."

But Dale Hall, who directs the Fish and Wildlife Service, said the move would not apply to major federal projects and would give his agency more time to focus on the most critically endangered species, rather than conducting reviews of projects that pose little threat.

"We have to have the ability to put our efforts where they're needed," Hall said, adding that individual agencies will have to take responsibility if their projects do harm a protected species. "This really says to the agencies, 'This law belongs to all of us. You're responsible to defend it.' "

-- Francisco Vara-Orta

Photo: Andrew Vaughan / Associated Press

O.C. Zoo is a haven for all creatures broken, lost

The Orange County Zoo is not your usual menagerie of lions, tigers and bears. Times staff writer Tony Barboza reports:

There are no majestic animals from the African savanna, no awe-inspiring creatures from Arctic reaches. Rather, here on this 5-acre wooded spread at the base of the Santa Ana Mountains are 60 mostly hard-luck animals who have had run-ins, bad breaks and unfortunate entanglements with humankind.

Visitors to the hard-to-find zoo in Irvine Regional Park in Orange encounter a hobbling bald eagle (below), a lopsided vulture, a porcupine (at right), four-horned sheep, a raccoon that was the runt of his litter and a potbellied pig that outlived its owner, who died of cancer.

Specializing in animals native to the Southwest and accepting only those that cannot be released into the wild have made the Orange County Zoo a repository for creatures with unusual, harrowing stories, many rooted in California's landscape. And what this ragtag group lacks in exoticism it makes up for in traumatic tales of near death and abandonment.

Its wildcats (that's a bobcat above), birds, reptiles and rodents have been shot, hit by cars, forcibly removed from lakes, had altercations with power lines and been illegally harbored by families.

The aim of keeping them all together is to teach people about the animals they're likely to encounter in the hills, canyons and backyards of Southern California, said zoo manager Donald Zeigler.

Photo credit: Don Bartletti / Los Angeles Times

 

Miley and Billy Ray Cyrus' new hobby: eagle naming

Here's an an animal story with a Hollywood and a Nashville connection. Two American bald eagles named by "Hannah Montana" star Miley Cyrus and her country singer father, Billy Ray Cyrus, are being released into the wild today in Pigeon Forge, Tenn., the home of Dolly Parton's Dollywood theme park.

The Associated Press says the eagles were named Tennessee (after the Cyrus' home state) and Hope (Miley's given middle name before she had it legally changed this year).

The American Eagle Foundation, which hatched the now 14-week-old eagles this spring, has released more than 90 eagles from Dollywood since the 1990s.

But get this: The two celebrities aren't even going to be on hand to see them released. Unleashed is also wondering how useful those names will be now that they'll be in the wild.

--Tony Barboza

Photos: American Eagle Foundation; Chris Pizzello/Associated Press

Mending bald eagle chick returns its home

A bald eagle chick named Skye will return to its native Santa Cruz Island home this afternoon, its broken wing mended after an unusual May 19 nest attack drew international attention via YouTube.

The 14-week-old chick received a celebratory send-off today from about 20 third-grade students from Lemonwood School in Oxnard. The students and their teacher, Regan Nelson, have been monitoring Skye’s welfare as part of a class project and sent get-well cards to the bird during its recovery, said Yvonne Menard, spokeswoman for Channel Islands National Park, which encompasses Santa Cruz Island and four other islands off Southern California. “They were very upset when this snatching occurred,” Menard said.

This morning, however, the students viewed Skye first-hand for the first time at park headquarters in Ventura. Officials were to take the chick to the island by a 4:30 p.m. boat, Menard said. Skye was one of two chicks injured when a young bald eagle attacked their nest at Pelican Harbor on the island.

The two chicks fell more than 30 feet to the ground, and the impact fractured Skye’s wing and cracked the other chick’s beak. Hundreds of bald eagle enthusiasts watched the attack as a public webcam captured live footage, and the video clip became a “most watched” feature on YouTube, according to the National Park Service.

The webcam, called EagleCAM, is part of Channel Islands Live, a partnership of the park service and the Ventura County Office of Education. The two chicks were nursed back to health by Dr. Scott Weldy at a veterinary center in Orange County.

An eagle gets a beak

Perhaps you remember the wounded bald eagle named Beauty? More than three years after poachers shot off her upper beak, she's got something to crow about, according to an Associated Press report at Discovery News.

A team attached an artificial beak to the 15-pound eagle in mid-May, improving her appearance and, more importantly, helping her grasp food.

"She's got a grill," joked Nate Calvin, the Boise engineer who spent 200 hours designing the complex beak. The "grill" was exposed when a bit of the synthetic beak broke off during application. But the new beak is only a temporary fix, designed to nail down precise measurements. A final beak made of tougher material will be created and attached later, though her saviors don't plan to release her back into the wild. They say that she has spent too much time with humans and that the final beak will still not be strong enough to tear flesh from prey.

But getting this artificial beak now was key to Beauty's survival. A wild eagle that must be hand-fed by humans would eventually have to be euthanized, especially since her life span could run four more decades, said Jane Fink Cantwell, who took Beauty to her raptor recovery center in Idaho two years ago. ...

Some critics question such an extraordinary effort to save one bird that is no longer on the endangered species list. But Cantwell pointed out that Beauty has the potential to breed or be a foster mother to orphaned eagles.

Photo: Young Kwak/Associated Press

Bald eagle killing to be prosecuted

A member of the Northern Arapaho Tribe who killed a bald eagle for use in his tribe's sun dance must stand trial, according to Times wire reports.

A panel of the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals in Denver reversed a 2006 decision by U.S. District Judge William Downes of Wyoming that had dismissed a criminal charge against Winslow Friday of Ethete, Wyo.

The appeals court ruled that American Indians' religious freedoms are not violated by federal law protecting eagles or the requirement that they get permits to kill eagles.

-- Francisco Vara-Orta

Disfigured eagle to get a new beak

An Eagle named Beauty needs a new beak, according to Nicholas K. Geranios of the Associated Press. Here's the start of his report:

She has been named Beauty, though this eagle is anything but. Part of Beauty's beak was shot off several years ago, leaving her with a stump that is useless for hunting food.

A team of volunteers is working to attach an artificial beak to the disfigured bird, in an effort to keep her alive.

"For Beauty it's like using only one chopstick to eat. It can't be done," said biologist Jane Fink Cantwell, who operates a raptor recovery center in Idaho. "She has trouble drinking. She can't preen her feathers.

That's all about to change." Cantwell has spent the last two years assembling a team to design and build an artificial beak. They plan to attach it to Beauty next month. With the beak, the 7-year-old bald eagle could live to the age of 50, although not in the wild.

"She could not survive in the wild without human intervention," Cantwell said.

Read more about Beauty and the beak at Discovery News.

--Alice Short

Photo: Young Kwak/Associated Press