Eagles Rebound, Ready to Leave Protected List

The American bald eagle, once near extinction, has made such a powerful comeback it will soon be removed from federal protection, perhaps formally on the Fourth of July.

America’s national bird, the bald eagle almost didn’t survive as a species, killed off by ranchers and farmers and the pesticide DDT.

Interior Department officials said Thursday the eagle has recovered to the point that it soon will be taken off the list of species protected by the Endangered Species Act.

“We’re going to take the bird off. The eagle is at a point where it’s made a full recovery,” Interior spokesman Jon Wright said.

Administration officials have been discussing taking the eagle off the list in a July 4 celebration at the White House, although a final decision has not been made.

The eagle, adopted as America’s national symbol shortly after the Revolutionary War, was near extinction by the 1960s.

During much of this century, large numbers of eagles were killed by ranchers and farmers, who believed them to be marauders targeting their chickens and domestic livestock. But their biggest enemy was DDT, the pesticide that accumulated in fish, one of the eagles’ favorite meals.

By the late 1960s, fewer than 450 eagle pairs were believed to exist in the Lower 48 states. Wildlife experts think as many as 75,000 nesting bald eagles may have existed when it became America’s national bird in 1782.

Today, more than 5,000 nesting pairs of bald eagles are believed to roam the countryside.

But 60 years ago, the bald eagle’s plight was such that Congress in 1940 enacted the Bald Eagle Protection Act, which made it illegal to kill, harass, possess or sell the bird. Still, thousands died largely because of exposure to DDT, biologists said.

In 1967, the eagle was declared an endangered species, six years before the Endangered Species Act became law. But not until after 1972, when DDT was banned, did the bird begin to rebound.

By 1995, its numbers had grown to a point where its status was changed from “endangered” to “threatened.”

At the time, Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt marked the occasion at a refuge outside Washington, where an eagle named Freedom was symbolically released. The bird was immediately attacked by an osprey and plummeted into the water. Although injured, Freedom was rescued and recovered to be set free again.