The eagle has landed

It took quite some time as he missed the connection from Detroit to Syracuse but BURL has finally arrived at Cornell University in Ithaca, NY after starting the journey at the Cody airport about 5:00am yesterday. The top photo shows his new home, the bottom just a couple days before he left IBR. I don't know what happened but according to the airline in Detroit their cargo area was full so they bumped the eagle off. BURL's flight was changed to arrive in Ithaca or, as the clerk said, "we can send him tomorrow" ?????? The reservation was made last week after they carefully made sure there was room on all flights for his crate size. I can't imagine any instance where the airline would bump a live animal in favor of a piece of cargo. I got the call from Dr. Parks last night around 10:30, our time, after he picked BURL up and was headed home.

As a few of you know, this has been a long and difficult path in making sure that BURL was sent to Cornell. The okay for his transfer came from both the state of NY and the USFWS Region 5 office (NY) last November 3rd. On the 9th of that month the Region 6 (Denver) office denied his transfer because they decided they have to "honor our trust agreement with the Indian tribes and from this point forward ALL non-releasable eagles must be sent to their aviaries". There are three Indian facilites that already have, at last count, 56 of these birds between them. This is not supported by any of the regulations concerning who is allowed to receive eagles for educational programs, nor have I been able to find any documentation on any "trust agreement" supporting the Region 6 USFWS ruling.

I had the help of Senator Mike Enzi's office and a member of his staff, Karen McCreery, in fighting to put this right. It was a long four months and in this instance the battle was won but the war isn't over. I will continue to fight for the rights of all facilities to receive eagles for use in their programs. If this is allowed to stand then there will never be an eagle sent to any other facility but those run by Indian tribes. And their primary use for the birds...molting feathers to be used in their ceremonies and on costumes.

The eagle has landed but the fight goes on.....