Bald eagles allegedly poisoned at Marion County Baseline Landfill

[L0oniX]

http://www.ocalapost.com/bald-eagles-allegedly-poisoned-at-marion-county-landfill/

Ocala, Florida —The bald eagle—the symbol of our nation—which is protected under the Bald and Golden Eagle Protection Act, faces a new threat in Marion County today.
Michelle Whitfield, Head of the wildlife department at the Animis Foundation, said bald eagles and other wildlife are being poisoned, but not how one would think.
The Animis Foundation alleges that the Marion County Animal Shelter has been dumping euthanized animals at the Marion County Baseline Landfill, which is located next to the shelter.

more at link

Yep you guessed it. The phenobarbital used to euthanize animals is what is killing the eagles. I wonder what it is doing to the ground water. I didn't think eagles would eat dead animals unless they were the predator.

[Curmudgeoness]

1. Oh, eagles are scavangers, first and foremost.

They are able to catch their own food without problem, but will take the easy way out whenever possible. This was the reason that Ben Franklin fought against making the Bald Eagle the symbol of the country.

He called it “a Bird of bad moral Character” that “does not get his Living honestly.”


You may have seen him perch’d on some dead Tree near the River, where, too lazy to fish for himself, he watches the Labour of the Fishing Hawk [Osprey]; and when that diligent Bird has at length taken a Fish, and is bearing it to his Nest for the Support of his Mate and young Ones, the Bald Eagle pursues him and takes it from him.

http://www.slate.com/articles/health_and_science/holidays/2013/11/benjamin_franklin_turkey_symbol_why_he_hated_the_bald_eagle_for_the_great.2.html


With that said, I love to see Bald Eagles.....they at least look majestic.

[postulater]

2. In India, the sacred cows were treated with Diclofenac.

When the cows died, they were taken to a disposal ground where the vultures cleaned them up. The vultures were extremely vulnerable to the Diclofenac and died with the first exposure. The vulture population plummeted 90% in just a couple years. Dogs then came to eat on the cow carcasses, all kinds of vermin and illness spread in the aftermath. Devastating.

[catchnrelease]

3. More problems

The decline in the vulture population also affected the burial practices of the Parsis people in India. They place the bodies of their dead in an open enclosure and the vultures come to feed on the bodies, so with fewer vultures it's turned into a problem.

[link:http://www.npr.org/2012/09/05/160401322/vanishing-vultures-a-grave-matter-for-indias-parsis|