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Bald Eagles Are Back. And They Want to Eat Your Pets.
Wall Street Journal ^ | May 14, 2021 | Jen Murphy

Posted on 05/17/2021 4:04:19 PM PDT by nickcarraway

America’s majestic emblem conjures feelings of awe. They also attack small dogs and scavenge a landfill.

The bald eagle population has made a remarkable comeback. But the majestic symbol of American pride is turning out to be a nuisance, especially in Canada.

Flocks have been spotted along highways in the Pacific Northwest, feasting in a landfill in Vancouver. Earlier this year, a ravenous raptor stalked and killed a seagull in front of shocked onlookers at a busy Vancouver golf course.

Dignity, my fellow American eagles. With an 8-foot wingspan and a distinctive snowy-white head, America’s national emblem conjures feelings of patriotism and reverence.

“You’re in awe every time you see one,” says Jeanine Pesce, who recently moved from New Jersey to British Columbia and now sees the raptors almost daily. “Their physicality and presence is so profound you feel a need to pay homage to them.”

But Ms. Pesce, who owns a consulting agency, has had to explain some National Geographic-worthy encounters to her 5-year-old daughter. “One day I watched an eagle drag a Canadian goose back and forth across rocks for hours,” she says. “I was told that’s how they tenderize their meat.”

It wasn’t long ago that birdwatchers considered the odds of a bald eagle sighting just this side of a unicorn sighting. Through conservation efforts and the banning of chemicals like DDT, the population recovered to numbers that warranted the bird’s removal from the endangered species list in 2007. A recent report from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Department found that numbers have quadrupled to more than 316,000 in 2019, from 72,000 in 2009.

(Excerpt) Read more at wsj.com ...


TOPICS: Outdoors; Pets/Animals
KEYWORDS: baldeagles; nature; pets
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1 posted on 05/17/2021 4:04:19 PM PDT by nickcarraway
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To: nickcarraway

Each year we count the seasons’ turn when the “Fluffy Missing” posters start to turn up at the Post Office. Last year some idiot let her Teacup Pomeranian run free. Bad, bad idea.


2 posted on 05/17/2021 4:07:35 PM PDT by Billthedrill
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To: Billthedrill

Last year some idiot let her Teacup Pomeranian run free.

Free range Pomeranians.


3 posted on 05/17/2021 4:11:07 PM PDT by Flick Lives (“Today we celebrate the first glorious anniversary of the Information Purification Directives.”)
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To: nickcarraway

4 posted on 05/17/2021 4:13:38 PM PDT by dfwgator (Endut! Hoch Hech!)
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To: Billthedrill
Wabbits to tricky to catch?


5 posted on 05/17/2021 4:15:01 PM PDT by Eleutheria5 ("The impossible happens all the time. You just have to believe." Will Robinson)
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To: nickcarraway

I was fishing just north of Juneau, AK one day.
Pinks were running. One guy with a really expensive rig was killing them. he caught a particularly big one as he fought it in on his fly rig, an Eagle swooped down grabbed the fish mid air and proceeded to the opposite shore of the creek and started to eat. The guy cut his line and re-rigged his gear.
Eagles and Law are more important than human food.


6 posted on 05/17/2021 4:15:39 PM PDT by rellic
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To: nickcarraway

I am proud to have a bald eagle as a neighbor.
It’s great every time I see it.
(I have big dogs)


7 posted on 05/17/2021 4:17:16 PM PDT by Lurkinanloomin (Natural Born Citizens Are Born Here of Citizen Parents)(Know Islam, No Peace - No Islam, Know Peace)
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To: rellic

Are you allowed to catch unlimited pink? I could only catch one king salmon per day there?


8 posted on 05/17/2021 4:18:06 PM PDT by nickcarraway
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To: nickcarraway

We had a pair land in our backyard a couple of months ago here in Florida. My wife and I were in shock and awed by the sight of them in our yard. Neither of them had a pocket poodle in their clutches though.


9 posted on 05/17/2021 4:18:12 PM PDT by ocrp1982 ( Bibicly)
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To: nickcarraway

Life is rough if you are a liberal.


10 posted on 05/17/2021 4:19:09 PM PDT by TomGuy
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To: TomGuy

That seagull was a fish murderer. It wouldn’t eat the vegan substitutes provided it.


11 posted on 05/17/2021 4:23:59 PM PDT by Eleutheria5 ("The impossible happens all the time. You just have to believe." Will Robinson)
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To: Billthedrill

I’m fortunate enough to see them occasionally landing in the tall trees behind my house. Truly magnificent and wing span much bigger than the hawks and owls living around me.


12 posted on 05/17/2021 4:24:00 PM PDT by NWFree (Somebody has to say it)
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To: nickcarraway

13 posted on 05/17/2021 4:24:22 PM PDT by Bonemaker (invictus maneo)
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To: nickcarraway

My Mother had a Chihuahua and when he was a puppy she would go out in the yard with him to make sure the crows didn’t get him ,LOL


14 posted on 05/17/2021 4:24:26 PM PDT by butlerweave
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To: dfwgator

Ha - great scene!


15 posted on 05/17/2021 4:24:49 PM PDT by AnotherUnixGeek
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To: rellic

Pinks are garbage anyway. Ice immediately, or they turn to mush.


16 posted on 05/17/2021 4:25:50 PM PDT by zek157
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To: nickcarraway

I go out with my dog to make sure things are okay but only thing getting pounced on in my yard are birds and a dove now and again by HAWKS. Nothing but a pile of feathers when they’re finished. Burp.


17 posted on 05/17/2021 4:26:06 PM PDT by NWFree (Somebody has to say it)
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To: nickcarraway

I saw that porcupine-dog get-up on shark tank. Mr. Wonderful told the inventors they should electrify it. They already had a model that would would shock an attacking animal (if the owner with the remote control was nearby).

A couple of years ago near me, an owl scooped up a small dog and flew off with it as the owner watched. It’s amazing how much birds can carry. At our last house, there were houses on the water, a road, and then our house was on the opposite site of the road. Several times a year sea gulls would drop fish on our deck. And these were fish about the same size as the gulls.


18 posted on 05/17/2021 4:26:32 PM PDT by Kipp
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To: nickcarraway

Codswallop. I live in a place where I see Bald Eagles on a daily basis and have never heard of a legitimate case where an eagle took a pet. Coyotes on occasion and rarely a cougar or wolf, but never an eagle. As far as animal attacks go, domestic dogs kill far more than every other creature combined.


19 posted on 05/17/2021 4:27:11 PM PDT by stormer
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To: nickcarraway

I keep hoping the ones in my neighborhood would grab more of my next door neighbor’s excess cats, but they seem to stay alive. At least until the coyotes get them.....


20 posted on 05/17/2021 4:27:20 PM PDT by datura
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