A few weeks ago someone on tweeters mentioned a rumor that PAWS had
euthanized the young male tiercel that was born in Seattle this year.
That rumor would seem to be confirmed by an article on Seattle's
Peregrines by Julia Bent in this month's _Earthcare Northwest_. She
states that someone from PAWS called a member of the Falcon Research Group
to report that PAWS had received the tiercel with a broken wing and
euthanized it.


Presuming this is true, it raises a couple of questions. Is it likely
that vets with the FRG would have euthanized the bird for a broken wing?
And does PAWS have authority to euthanize a member of an endangered
species?


I'm not sure why Seattle Audubon has any kind of affiliation with PAWS
(e.g., listing PAWS as a place to take injured birds in Earthcare NW).
Last spring PAWS [if memory serves, it was them and not PETA...] ran a
full-page ad in the UW _Daily_ denouncing Sievert Rohwer's (Burke Mus.)
bird collecting trip to Siberia. They are against research on animals,
and I would not be surprised to someday find them protesting mist-netting
and banding of birds.


David Wright
dwright at u.washington.edu