Regal Eagles and a Rather Evil Law

This, my friends, is a bald eagle, America's proud and regal national bird and as of today, a non-endangered species.

We discussed little critters like these today in economics, where my fiercely free-market professor lectured on why we should make such species private property. He discussed some very sinister sides of the Endangered Species Act, and since I read an editorial in the Washington Times about the same subject, I think I'll enlighten everyone to the dark side of environmentalism.

When they were placed on the endangered species list in 1967, there were only 500 breeding pairs in the continental United States due to the pesticide DDT (though there were thousands in Canada). By the early '90s, the population had increased to 3,000 pairs, which was the goal all along. But instead of removing eagles from the list, they kept the restriction for another decade...

The last straw came in 2004, when a guy named Ed Contoski wanted to sell his property. Unfortunately, his property was home to an eagle's nest and consequently, the Interior Department barred the transaction. But they didn't stop there -- not only did he lose all the value of his property, but he faced a fine of $100,000 and/or a year in jail if he tampered with the eagle's habitat!

Contoski was one of the good guys. Many others who discovered eagles on their property have tried to salvage the value of their homes by shooting the birds or ripping out their nests. Yeah, it's an eagle's life, but it would pretty much gut a farmer financially if he didn't pull out his gun.

Contoski ended up suing the Interior Department. He won -- at which point the government finally acknowledged that there were more than 10,000 eagle pairs in the US, more than triple the amount required to lose the "endangered" status.

What a travesty. People actually had to kill eagles because the government's would try to slam them with fines, rather than reward them, if a bird decided to nest on their property. And we wonder why it took so long for the bird population to rehabilitate -- it's all because these senseless policies force sensible landowners to choose between breaking the law or breaking the bank.