The birds are suing Donald Trump.
Well, not exactly. The Audubon Society, on behalf of birds, is suing Donald Trump.
Well, not exactly. The Audubon Society is suing the Department of the Interior, but it might as well be Donald Trump.
The lawsuit, filed May 24, is seeking to protect the Migratory Bird Treaty Act since a new directive, directly from Donald Trump, declares the Department of the Interior won’t enforce the law for any unintentional bird deaths caused by industry.
In other words, safety precautions to protect birds are no longer necessary. Even oil spills are in the “unintentional” category.
The law protected millions of birds harmed during the 2010 BP Deepwater Horizon disaster in the Gulf of Mexico. You may have seen television commercials for Dawn dish detergent showing volunteers using Dawn to clean the feathers of birds caught in the spill. No more. If a tragedy like that happens again the company can just walk away from the birds. There will be no consequences.
To those of us who love birds, or even those of us who watch birds occasionally, the directive is an unimaginable assault on our environment.
What’s next, no enforcement of “unintentional” deaths of mammals? How far does that slippery slope go? How far did it go in Nazi Germany?
The directive flies in the face of decades of policy and practice, by Democrat and Republican administrations.
Congress passed the Migratory Bird Treaty Act 100 years ago in response to public outcry over the mass slaughter of birds for their feathers.
At one point, an ounce of egret feathers was worth more than an ounce of gold—all to use for the fashion industry. Efforts to pass the law were led by Audubon chapters and ultimately became National Audubon Society’s founding victory.
The landmark lawsuit filed by the Audubon Society is only asking that the Migratory Bird Treaty Act be enforced in the same way it has been enforced for the past 100 years.
It doesn’t seem like too much to ask, even of a Trump administration.
New Trump policy an assault on wildlife
STEVE CHRISTENSEN