Date: Mon, 29 Mar 2004 18:32:12 -0500 Reply-To: Maryland Birds & Birding Sender: Maryland Birds & Birding From: Fran Saunders Subject: Help Needed for Peregrine Falcon lost in Santo Domingo MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit This was sent to the web site. Can anyone help??? Someone from DNR???? This article was in the www.dr1.com website on March 29th, 2004. Can you pass this on to someone who can help, before they eat it? Thanks Gary Lost peregrine falcon While the Listin Diario headlines that a peregrine falcon has been lost, the body of the story tells another story. The bird, identified with the number 788-47361, from Maryland, USA, is currently resting at the home of the Valoy Veras family in Santo Domingo. How it got there reflects on how birds of prey are treated in the Dominican Republic. According to Adriana Peguero, the Listin reporter, the handsome bird arrived at the Valoy Veras household via their friend, businessman Francis Chanel Abreu, who had paid RD$400 for it from "a guy who had him for sale." After first offering RD$1,000 for the bird, Abreu thought better of the deal and said that RD$400 was a better price - "take it or leave it." Believe it or not, the "lucky" bird went to Abreu, because the other bidders offered less and their intentions were to eat the endangered-species bird. The peregrine falcon is a bird of prey that hunts during the day, and can reach over a foot and a half in length. It is famous for its speed and strength. Abreu, however, not particularly astute with his ecological facts, told reporters he bought the bird thinking it was an eagle. When he saw the ID bracelet on the right leg, however, he realized that there were international implications, and gave the bird to his neighbor, Leo Valoy Veras, until it was determined what to do with the animal. Currently, the falcon is being kept in a large cage, where it has refused to eat and looks a bit unhappy. Contact emails can be sent to: bolivarveras@hotmail.com or consultorp2001886@hotmail.com Fran Saunders Silver Spring, MD ======================================================================= To leave the MDOsprey list, send e-mail to listserv@home.ease.lsoft.com with the following message in line 1: signoff mdosprey ======================================================================= =========================================================================