54 dead sheep in Idaho

[jackelope]

https://www.themeateater.com/conservation/wildlife-management/pair-of-bald-eagles-kill-54-sheep-on-idaho-ranch?fbclid=IwAR2PMUulo4JTUm2n46uAxMAnhUwSVpCa86lH2-oT4JDEajq_Okz5DXXqmD

A pair of bald eagles are attacking a flock of sheep near Murtagh Lake, Idaho. The birds have managed to kill 54 animals so far.

[Fl0und3rz]

That's nuts.

[trophyhunt]

What???  That’s crazy!

[Platensek-po]

So cool. Awesome take from the rancher. What a cool bird

[Birdguy]

As a farm kid in my youth, we would have never allowed that kind of loss before we made some changes! IT is crazy to me that so many were taken before they realized it. Must be a huge flock and left on pasture without protection of any kind? Still though mother nature at work! The regular food did not show up, time to find a new food source.....too bad our orcas could never figure that out! Lol

[jackelope]

@Rainier10  said in another thread he was told that you just gotta shoot all the raptors to protect the quail. Apparently the same goes for the sheep!!




(*don’t actually shoot all the raptors*)

[Jonathan_S]

Raptors are overrated

[Rainier10]

@Rainier10  said in another thread he was told that you just gotta shoot all the raptors to protect the quail. Apparently the same goes for the sheep!!




(*don’t actually shoot all the raptors*)

[SWHUNTER]

@rational_redneck

[MtnMuley]

So cool. Awesome take from the rancher. What a cool bird

A cool bird takes 54 of your livestock out and I'd bet you'd beg to differ.

[Ronquillo08]

So cool. Awesome take from the rancher. What a cool bird

A cool bird takes 54 of your livestock out and I'd bet you'd beg to differ.

I don't know the Rancher himself still called it a cool bird.

[pianoman9701]

A sheep rancher up in Woodland had to protect the lambs from bald eagles in the spring. Mrs. Pianoman and I once saw an eagle feeding on a lamb as we were on the way to Lebanon, OR. Right by the side of the road.

[buckcanyonlodge]

Eagle...very lean white meat. I've had to haze them from my house as they were trying to get my pets. I hear that eagle meat is very tough and chewy.

[KP-Skagit]

So cool. Awesome take from the rancher. What a cool bird

A cool bird takes 54 of your livestock out and I'd bet you'd beg to differ.

I don't know the Rancher himself still called it a cool bird.

That is the exact quote from the rancher in the article.

[timberfaller]

Love the story out of BC Canada back in the 80's!  A American tourist was traveling down a highway when they happened upon a fence with Bald Eagles, hawks and a couple of Golden Eagles tied upside down, dead.  Incensed, the tourist found the property owners drive way and sped down to the ranchers house(cattle rancher).  The rancher was seated on his front pouch and seeing the dust cloud coming he waited.  The tourist comes to a stop, jumps out of the car and proceed to read the rancher a riot act over killing the Bald Eagles and the others.  The rancher calmly waited until the American had settled down and then responded.  "Its calving season and if you've ever been around cattle during that time and these birds come around, they will sit on the mother cow and as she is delivering, they will first eat the eyes, then it to late for that calf. AND besides, the Bald Eagle isn't my nation bird!"   With that the tourist stomped off.

Some people are never happy nor do they learn about the reality's of life.

I guess my point is, there are lots and lots of Bald Eagles now a days and yes there are laws protecting them.  BUT a few less wouldn't hurt things either, especially around a person's livelihood.  When you never have to raise food for a living and buy all you ever need from a store, reality about the cost/expenses/heart aches never occur in the thought process's.   As long as Safeway and Costco have it, I am happy as a clam!!

[LDennis24]

Heard from a FEDERAL game Warden one time that when they would have trouble with Great Horned owls and Raptors in certain areas the birds would suddenly just start dying. He stopped at that.

[HighlandLofts]

Bald eagles are scavengers, when I was working at the dairy farm they would always eat the dead cows, calves & after birth from the cows.
Anything dead along the roads & out in the fields you see them eating on it.

[lewy]

Sometimes you've got to fix the problem and move along

[Platensek-po]

I’d be very very hesistant to shoot a bald eagle given the punishment.

Penalties for anyone found guilty of killing a bald eagle include up to a year in jail, along with fines of up to $15,000 under the Migratory Bird Treaty Act and $100,000 under the Bald and Golden Eagle Protection Act

[Fidelk]

Bald eagles are scavengers, when I was working at the dairy farm they would always eat the dead cows, calves & after birth from the cows.
Anything dead along the roads & out in the fields you see them eating on it.

I've seen 30 or 40 of them around the carcass pit of the Wild Game Farm here. They also nail a lot of seagulls on a fairly treeless golf course. I took a bunch of fish heads and scraps down to the beach to toss in for the crabs. Pretty soon about 10 eagles were flying in, one at a time, and hitting the scraps. It was loud when they hit. They also chased off the younger birds. Very well organized.

[pianoman9701]

Bald eagles are scavengers, when I was working at the dairy farm they would always eat the dead cows, calves & after birth from the cows.
Anything dead along the roads & out in the fields you see them eating on it.

Ben Franklin wrote that the “Bald Eagle...is a Bird of bad moral Character. He does not get his Living honestly…[he] is too lazy to fish for himself.”

About the turkey, Franklin wrote that in comparison to the bald eagle, the turkey is “a much more respectable Bird, and withal a true original Native of America...He is besides, though a little vain & silly, a Bird of Courage.”