Winged Wolf Killers

Winged Wolf Killers

David Sparks Ph.D.
David Sparks Ph.D.
Trained wolf killers on the wing. Ben Woodruff of the North American Falcononer’s Association showed up to talk with sheep ranchers accompanied by his Golden Eagle. Sheep ranchers have a very difficult relationship with Golden Eagles given that these raptors are birds of prey. They don't see a baby lamb or sheep as profit producing livestock, they see them as meals and Ben points out that these powerful birds have a huge upside if they are trained properly.

“Her name is Holly and I have had her for 12 years, since she was about six months old, and she literally thinks I am her mate which is rather embarrassing during breeding season. She bobs her tail and preens my hair and does a little mating dance. It’s funny when she does that during educational programs because the school kids don’t quite know what’s going on. People love the idea of getting the eagles out without having to kill them. Even now in Mongolia and Russia and they are still hunting wolves with Golden Eagles. They weigh as much as a bowling ball, imagine that dropping out of the sky onto anything, and the feet, they have 1200 pounds of crushing grip per square inch in their feet. The beak is not the dangerous part, it is the feet. People have been training Eagles for over 5000 years. It is a very well documented and well established form of hunting. Not many people do it nowadays. Holly sits the entire time on Ben’s hand with a hood over her head. If I take the hood off, she thinks it’s killing time so I can’t take the hood off. It jacks them up.

Previous ReportLocal on the Web
Next ReportGlobal Warming