Editor's Note
One of the many privileges of editing Audubon is sharing a bond with you, our readers. We know from personal experience and independent research that you are among the most politically influential of any magazine’s readers, and that this means, in times of need, that you’re ready to fire off letters to lawmakers and visit them, write your local newspaper, and even pen your own opinion pieces. We urge you to respond to two calls to arms in this issue.
It seems beyond belief, but as Ted Williams writes in “Fowl Play” “raptors are being slaughtered by the thousands all across our nation by people who, for one reason or another, don’t like them.” In California, Oregon, Washington, Texas, New Mexico, Wisconsin, Montana, and New York, members of roller pigeon clubs are killing Cooper’s hawks, peregrine falcons, and other raptors because they sometimes pick off their birds, mistaking them for prey. Federal agents have documented gruesome murder methods, including spraying trapped hawks in the mouth and eyes with a gas made from ammonia and bleach or rubbing Drano liquid on the backs of their necks. Please refer to the What You Can Do box to support legislation from Representative Peter DeFazio that will, he says, “stop those who abuse migratory birds.”
If you thought the polar bear and other Arctic species were already in trouble, read Daniel Glick’s story (“Polar Distress”) about how the Bush administration is flouting federal law and ignoring government scientists as it looks to open a critical and wildlife-rich marine area the size of Pennsylvania to oil and gas drilling. “The region is, in effect, a last-chance sanctuary, where many of the planet’s most charismatic marine mammals, including polar bears and walruses, spend part of their annual cycle of foraging, giving birth, and storing up enough calories to survive and reproduce,” he writes. Steven Kazlowski’s beautiful images, including the polar bear on the cover and the ivory gull, show just how high the stakes are. Glick warns of the threat posed by heavy industry in “a world of stressed-out seals, worried walruses, and imperiled polar bears. Add to that the likelihood of oil spills in an icy, stormy clime, and ecologists warn of disasters like the 1989 Exxon Valdez spill—or worse.” Please see this story’s What You Can Do Box to find out how you can support bills in Congress to prevent what Representative Edward Markey calls “regulatory lunacy and a blatant disregard for moral responsibility.”
Be sure to send copies of your correspondence to editor@audubon.org or mail them to us at 225 Varick Street, 7th Floor, New York, NY 10014 so we can publish them in print or on our website. Please share with us other action you take. We want to keep a permanent record for the benefit of future generations.—David Seideman |
