By Alan Mauldlin/The Moultrie Observer
MOULTRIE — Former Reed Bingham State Park Manager Chet Powell had permission to tend a sick bald eagle found in November, a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service official said Friday.
Powell’s temporary possession of the bird, which was released after it recovered in a few days, was an “excuse” used by the state Department of Natural Resources when it removed him from the position, his supporters say.
The eagle was found the day before Thanksgiving, and with the upcoming holiday it would have been difficult to get it admitted into a wildlife facility, according to Carmen Simonton, permit administrator with the Fish and Wildlife Service in Atlanta. Moving the eagle also could have posed a danger to the bird, she said.
“A bird can get injured being put into a kennel and transported,” she said. “There’s no need in taking that chance.”
Fish and Wildlife regulations allow any person who finds a sick or injured federally protected bird to provide immediate care for the animal, Simonton said.
Powell notified Simonton that someone had found the eagle and was taking it to Reed Bingham, she said. It was decided at the time that the best course of action would be for Powell to care for it for a brief period.
“In this situation, because it was a holiday weekend and Chet has birds, there was no point in stressing and transporting the bird two hours down the road,” she said. “At the federal end he did nothing wrong.”
The discussion also covered the scenario of the eagle not improving relatively quickly, in which case Powell was to take it to a facility such as St. Francis Wildlife’s Northwood Animal Hospital in Tallahassee, Simonton said. The bird recovered sufficiently in a few days’ time to allow it to be released in the area where it was found.
Powell’s supporters say that Powell also ran afoul of the Department of Natural Resources by his opposition to a clear-cutting proposal that would affect nearly 200 acres of trees on or near a wetlands area. That area is relatively close to the nest of a pair of bald eagles at the park.
The agency said that a 170-acre thinning operation, not a clear-cut, is planned for later in the year.
Federal regulations that went into effect last year would require approval from Fish and Wildlife for any plan of that nature.
Although federal law does not address eagle habitat specifically, regulations require approval before any activity that could impact nesting eagles or their habitat, Simonton said.
That would include the noise and activity involved with any tree-thinning or clear-cutting operation, as well as construction activities.
“If you are going to disturb, or are likely to disturb a bald eagle nest from any activity, then you need a permit to do that before it happens,” Simonton said.
