Archive for June, 2007

30
June

Bald eagle returns from brink of extinction

A bald eagle flys from its perch near the Melvin Price Lock and Dam 27 in East Alton. (Robert Cohen/P-D)

Bald eagle returns from brink of extinction
By Ken Leiser
ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH
06/28/2007

The bald eagle — that regal symbol of American pride — has completed its long flight back from the edge of extinction. And give the bird credit for patriotism: the news comes just in time for that proud American holiday, July Fourth.

Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne is expected to announce today that the eagle will no longer be perched on the national list of threatened and endangered species. The news conference will be held at the Jefferson Memorial in Washington.

The widely anticipated move caps a 40-year comeback for the eagle, whose numbers were ravaged by the now-banned pesticide DDT and widespread hunting. Their numbers have surged from 417 nesting pairs in the early 1960s to nearly 10,000 in much of the country today, according to the group Environmental Defense.

STLtoday - News - St. Louis City / County

No longer endangered
Among the other species removed from the list:

— American alligator (1987)

— American peregrine falcon (August 1999)

— Yellowstone grizzly bear (March 2007)

— Gray wolf, Western Great Lakes (March 2007)

Source: U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service