Julie Loparo is an animal rights advocate. She often shares uplifting stories of work by Westport Animal Shelter Advocates and Wildlife in Crisis.
Not today, unfortunately. She sends along this Wildlife in Crisis report:
A few weeks ago, on a lawn adjacent to the Saugatuck River, a very ill and lethargic adult female bald eagle was found by Westport Animal Control officer Peter Reid.
He immediately transported it to Wildlife in Crisis. Despite a great effort to save the magnificent bird, it died.
Wanting to know the source of the illness, Wildlife in Crisis sought a necropsy. It revealed that the eagle died from rodenticide. Its liver contained compounds used in mouse and rat poison.
It is upsetting to think that if nature had been left alone to deal with mice or rats, this eagle would still soar.
Peter Reid, with bald eagle.
Dara Reid, Wildlife in Crisis director, called this “a perfect specimen, unnecessarily poisoned through ignorance and apathy.
“But this is just the tip of the iceberg. The deluge of pesticides being sprayed throughout Westport should concern every resident, especially those with children.
“All summer at Wildlife in Crisis, we received calls about songbirds dead en masse under recently sprayed trees. This is the proverbial canary in the coal mine scenario. Poisons are never the answer; they only create more problems. Don’t believe anyone who tells you otherwise.”
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Read More: Bald Eagle Death A “Canary In The Coal Mine”