GEESE: Migratory bird law broken
Coeur d'Alene Press | UPDATED 13 years, 8 months AGO
What no one has bothered to mention in this tawdry story of the callous disregard for the welfare of wildlife by Charles Buck in his cruel attempt to prevent goose nesting at the University of Idaho campus in Coeur d’Alene is that he broke the law; by implication, his employer (UI) has broken the law and the Idaho Department of Fish and Game is either ignorant or selectively choosing which laws they will enforce.
The law is the Migratory Bird Treaty Act which was enacted to provide protection to migratory birds throughout the nation. It protects almost every species of wild bird that we see up here in North Idaho, except for a few exotics, e.g. starlings. It certainly wraps its legal protections around the welfare of wild geese.
The law has provisions to permit actions that disturb migratory birds. However, the point is that a permit is required. If Mr. Buck had bothered to inquire of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, he might have been able to acquire such a permit, especially if he had applied well before the nesting season and if he, and by extension UI, had used humane means to prevent nesting. He did not and by proceeding without reference, evidently, to anything beyond his desire to get rid of nesting geese, he broke the law.
It’s understandable but deplorable that Charles Buck did not know or did not care to know that the Migratory Bird Treaty Act existed and that he and UI needed to work within its framework to resolve his issue. It’s a lot more baffling and disturbing that the Idaho Department of Fish and Game (read Chip Corsi, in charge of the Panhandle Region) either was ignorant that the law existed and had been broken, or they knew of it and chose to ignore federal law.
Mr. Buck’s lack of regard for the safety and welfare of the geese may be disturbing; it’s much worse when our state wildlife agency deliberately chooses to avoid working within law to protect an important wildlife resource, a species that should be of importance to them in that geese are an important resource to the specific citizen base that the Idaho Department of Fish and Game exists to serve, i.e. sportsmen/waterfowl hunters.
JERRY R. BOGGS
Post Falls