Wednesday, December 08, 2004

OUTRAGE: RED-TAILED HAWK NEST DESTROYED

Okay, I hereby officially confer upon the residents of 927 Fifth Avenue The Last Debate's first annual SCROOGE AWARD.

For ten years now, a family of red-tailed hawks has lived in a nest built on a cornice on top of a luxury building in the middle of Fifth Avenue's swanky Museum Mile area, across from the boat pond in Central Park. These glorious, graceful, regal -- and endangered -- birds could frequently be seen soaring over the park.

The birds had a small army of adoring fans who observed them faithfully from the benches opposite the pond. In summer, they often set up a video monitor for tourists focused on the nests so you could watch the baby hawks in this unusual environment.

Full details here (NY Times registration required).

These rare birds were really celebrities, and were even the stars of a PBS documentary. While it is unclear if any law has been violated (there are federal protections in place prohibiting the destruction of migratory bird habitats), it was definitely a heartless thing to do.

As it so happens, one of the residents of this building is Mary Tyler Moore. "I am so outraged that they would do this without so much as a by your leave," she told the Times.

Please write to Ms. Moore and ask her to convey your anger to the management and other residents of her building:

Ms. Mary Tyler Moore
927 Fifth Avenue
New York, NY 10021

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

My selfish neighbor destroyed a red-tail hawk nest so that he could cut the tree section the nest was in (for a solar panel!). No eggs were in it yet but the hawks were building it for the last 4 months. I am outraged but noone seems to care.
It's nice to know someone else out there has had the same disturbing experience.