This is the first time in more than thirty years the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife will allow peregrine falcons to be taken from the wild.

The change in policy reflects the raptors’ comeback after thirty years on Oregon’s endangered species list.  The birds were removed from the national list eight years ago, but remained on the state list until March of 2007.

The drop in falcon population was the result of the pesticide DDT, which thinned egg shells.  Use of DDT was widespread after world war two, in part because of its effectiveness against mosquitoes carrying malaria and lice carrying typhus.  Its use was banned in 1973 due to its propensity to build up in animals.

President of the Oregon Falconers Association, Bob Welle, says 80 percent of raptors at large don’t make it to adulthood…

Welle: “With the help of human, they have a higher percentage of being successful.  So, you’re conditioning a bird that says ‘hey there’s lots of ways you could hunt ducks, but if you go out with me your success ration is going to be higher.’”

Welle says peregrines have been used for falconry since the middle ages and are the premier hunting raptor.  Peregrines bred in captivity have been available to falconers since the 1980s.  Welle says the bigger story is the birds’ recovery…

Welle:  "It’s a win for falconers, it’s a win for Audubon, it’s a win for wildlife officials, in that it’s huge success story.  The fact that we’re allowed to take seven of them is minor compared to the success of the peregrine as a species.”

Welle says there are now as many nests in the wild as there were in the U.S. before the 1970s.