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Dave Smith[_1_]

On 2017-01-02 7:17 PM, wrote:

> During the 1972 congressional debate, the Department of the Interior
> revealed that only 32 federal convictions had been obtained under the
> act in the previous five years, with violators averaging a $50 fine
> per incident . . . Congress also added civil penalties of $5,000 per
> violation for the first time. The Senate also took congressional
> notice of the continued killing of eagles by ranchers and farmers, who
> sometimes destroyed large numbers by aerial shooting. As a result,
> Congress designed a penalty designed to strike fear into the heart of
> ranching country: the cancellation of grazing rights.
>

You have cited something from a university with a backgrounder to
legislation, which looks more like anecdotal and not likely empirical.
They are talking about ranchers and farmers, but the bald eagle is
primarily found near coastal areas because they live on fish. Graphs of
eagle population and mating pairs were pretty well bottomed out in the
early 1960s. Civilian helicopters were still quite rare at that time.

Curiously, it was about the time that helicopters started becoming much
more popular that the eagle population started to increase. It also
coincides with the time that DDT was seen as a major problem for eagles
and other birds of prey.