Two young ospreys were taken from their nest on a light pole at a park in Calvert County, Maryland, and euthanised, causing a stir among local wildlife enthusiasts.
County officials said they followed all laws protecting birds in removing the young ospreys from the pole to replace a light fixture on it at Cove Point park in Lusby, but that is little comfort to local wildlife rehabilitation experts and birders.
Supporters of the ospreys said officials should have consulted a wildlife sanctuary to take the birds or relocate them rather than kill them. Birders said the animals were about to fledge from their nest and appeared to be perfectly healthy, but a federal wildlife official said the ospreys weren’t close to fledging.
Ospreys, like bald eagles and falcons, were nearly wiped out because of pesticide use more than 40 years ago, but they have made a comeback as part of widespread conservation efforts. Federal wildlife officials said there are about 2,000 nesting pairs of ospreys in the Chesapeake Bay area. They often nest on top of lights or utility poles. At the Calvert park, they had made a nest in the pole.
Robert Kyle, who lives nearby, said he was “outraged” when he learned from online reports and wildlife social media groups that the ospreys had been removed from the Calvert County park and euthanised. He said he “couldn’t believe that something like this could happen”.
“There was a way to save them,” Mr Kyle said, noting that several area rehabilitation groups probably could have taken the birds.
Donna Cole, who rescues birds of prey and runs a website called Annapolis Creative, was among the first to report on the ospreys’ removal in late July. She said the juvenile ospreys were “perfectly healthy” and the county’s “way of dealing with this was by killing wildlife”.
Officials in Calvert County disagreed, saying they had the necessary approval from the US fish and wildlife service.
In a statement, the county’s board of commissioners said that “because the nest was located in an area adjacent to a ball field, the nest posed a risk to the safety of the public”. It went on to say that the light pole at the park is “not equipped to accommodate the presence of ospreys”. The commissioners said “falling sticks or other nesting material” could fall from the nest and endanger visitors.
County officials said they had a “cooperative services agreement” with the US agriculture department’s animal and plant health inspection service (APHIS) to have the ospreys and their nest removed. The commissioners said they were “not consulted or informed as to why or how the decision was made to euthanise the juveniles in the nest rather than relocate”.
Sarah Ehman, a county spokesperson, said that similar maintenance has been done at other spots in the area and in “those cases, the raptors were placed in proper care”.
The commissioners said going forward they plan to “work to ensure that any ospreys removed from county property will be relocated.”
In an email, Tanya C Espinosa, a spokeswoman for APHIS, said the birds were removed from the nest at the request of Calvert County parks officials “due to human health and safety and property maintenance concerns.”
Ms Espinosa said the wildlife service division’s work to do a “lethal removal is done with consideration for the population of the species as a whole.” She wouldn’t say whether officials had considered contacting a rehabilitation centre or moving the birds to another nesting spot.
Da Eisenhauer, a spokesperson for the US fish and wildlife service’s north Atlantic-Appalachian region, said in an email that depredation permits are sometimes issued for the “capture or killing of birds to help reduce damage to agricultural crops/livestock, private property, human health and safety, and protected wildlife”.
He said birds are sometimes relocated or sent to a federally permitted rehab centre. They’re “not always euthanised, and every case is different,” depending on the specifics outlined in a permit, Mr Eisenhauer said.
Mr Kyle and other wildlife supporters said they still weren’t pleased.
Kathleen Woods, who is president of the Maryland wildlife rehabilitators association, said birds are euthanised more than the public realises, but people seem to be taking more notice of wildlife as they’re spending more time outdoors because of the pandemic.
“We’re all post-pandemic and freaked out about life,” Ms Woods said. “People just want to see good things happen in life.”
The Washington Post
