Last night the Homer City Council passed an ordinance barring the feeding of Eagles. The result of this ordinance will be that Jeanne Keane will no longer be allowed to feed the Eagles and the 400+ Eagles that migrate to Homer during the winter will no longer migrate there. This ordinance will take effect next winter. If you wanted to photograph the Eagles in Homer, you have the next month and a half to do so.

Hum.

This was the result of a news broadcast I heard earlier in the day. The news broadcast apparently didn't report all the facts on the earlier broadcasts. On a later broadcast they reported that the ordinance does indeed take effect next winter, but Jeanne Keane has a exemption to the ordinance until 2010. Sorry about the misinformation.

Hi David,

Was there a reason for the legislation?

James

Trust me Jim, you really do not want to know the reason. It would make your blood boil.

David

You have piked my curiosity. I did some research and found the following link. What is your take on this?

http://www.homertribune.com/story2.html

Lou

The person behind the ordinance used to work for Alaska Fish & Game. While he worked for Fish & Game, he backed the Eagle feeding as something that was beneficial to the Eagles. Once he retired from Fish & Game, he started a petting farm with large birds. Since he started the petting farm, he has been against the Eagle feeding as something bad, but it is ok for him to keep Sandhill Cranes in captivity and feed them. I think his motive is jealousy and greed as Jeanne Keane has reached international fame for her Eagle feeding and photographers photograph the Eagles for free instead of paying him a fee to photograph his birds. Nobody ever heard of Homer outside of Alaska until Newsweek did an article about Jeanne Keane and her Eagle feeding. I think the long term effects of this ordinance will hurt Homer's economy as the photographers will go elsewhere to photograph the Eagles once the feeding stops. Homer's economy consists of Government jobs , tourism and fishing industry. In the winter there is not much going on except the tourism created by the Eagle feeding. I think most photographers will start going back to Haines for the photography of Eagles. Now a lot of what I have said is here conjecture on my part and my opinion and there will be people who disagree with me. Only time will tell what will happen. What is known to be fact is that the concentration of Eagles in Homer in the winter is caused by Jeanne Keane feeding of the Eagles. It is common (wisdom?) that once the feeding of the Eagles stops, the Eagles will stop coming to Homer. They come from as far away as Kodiak.

Lou,

Thank you very much for the link. It was helpful.

James

Hi David,

Thanks for the thoughts. The law appears to have passed by more than a minority. Are people doing any advocacy work to have it repealed? The article that Lou showed sited potential environmental damage as a result of the birds being fed. Do you buy this?

From the link above:
"In past successive council meetings, McLay and a host of others brought forth evidence, mostly photographs and studies, showing the damage possible by unnaturally high eagle populations on the Spit. Those advocating for feeding eagles argued that it should remain legal due to tradition and economy, and for the sake of Keene."

James

PS I am debating moving this thread to the Habitat Conservation Forum. It is a great thread...I am hesitant to move it because I have 'lost' threads in the past when trying to do this.

The law was passed by a 4-2 vote this time after the owner of the petting farm got his people on the city council. They have tried 5 times before to accomplish this and lost. They tried to get a resolution passed by Alaska Fish & Game, but the game board turned down 4 resolutions by this group. So the biology doesn't support this small group. When they lost this with Fish & Game, they then tried a local ordinance. If I had the money, I would buy land just outside the city limits and feed the Eagles year around just to piss off this group of people. Sorry about the language, but it just gripes my soul when people get laws, bills and ordinances passed about Fish & Game matters
that has more to do with politics instead of biology.
The damage that was sited was about an Eagle that attacked one of the birds on the petting farm one summer. Now keep in mind that the Eagles are only fed during the winter months and ends around the middle of March to the end of March. The 400+ Eagles that were being fed leaves to go back where they came from before the feeding. The Eagles are fed Salmon scraps, a natural food for them. Next year when I see Eagles feeding at the Homer dump, I am going to try real hard to get the City of Homer cited for breaking their own law.