HawkTalk.org

Through the year 2004, there were 40 people/centers that held Special Purpose Migratory Bird Rehabilitation Permits in the State of Georgia. Today, there are only NINETEEN left. That's right, nineteen... Two things have led to the demise of raptor rehabbers across the nation; USFWS is now charging us for the privilege of volunteering our services and they have placed unreasonable caging requirements for animals. The charge isn't much, mind you, but it's an insult all the same and some people did not renew their permits out of sheer principle. When is the last time you had to pay to dedicate your life to something for no financial compensation? They say that the small fee is a 'revenue enhancing measure", but I don't believe that for a minute. Charging twenty five dollars per rehabber over the course of five years (the length of the permit) would garner them very little money. Add up all the Special Purpose rehabbers and multiply by 5$ each per year? That wouldn't cover the annual toilet paper budget for one Region! They just threw out the baby with the bath water, which was their mission.

As far as the caging requirements go, now, in order to care for an Osprey or a Black vulture (which isn't even a raptor, by the way), your cage must be 20 x 100 x 16 feet high! How many people can afford such a monstrosity? So, I guess I need to go out and hunt down every stinking (and I mean that literally) vulture that I've ever cared for and whack him on his fuzzy head because surely to God, they shouldn't have survived under my piteously small 24 foot long chamber. Fish & Wildlife will allow you to circumvent this large "unrestricted activity" cage if you have creance experience, which is the basic falconry technique employed before free flight. (unfortunately, most raptor rehabbers are not also falconers) It's not brain surgery...it's a tall perch, a long line, a big, unobstructed field... I offered to go around and teach the people (at no cost, obviously) that had been disqualified by these new regulations, but I was blown off. I truly believe this is a back door attempt at stopping the activity of the rehabilitation of raptors in the United States of America. What is the point of protecting them if we can't help them? FWS has managed to cut the number of rehabbers in Georgia by half, so I would say they are succeeding beyond their wildest dreams. They cannot come right out and outlaw the practice, but they can make it so cost prohibitive that no one can afford to do it. It's all very sad and I guess there's nothing to be done about it. Yet another civilization teetering on the precipice.

As Usual....m.