This is really one of the most fucked up things I've come across today. I heard it on the news this morning while I was getting ready for work, but didn't fully process it right then. Just thought to myself, "why the hell are these people ripping down a hawk's nest that has been in that same spot for years?"
When I read this it just made me sad.
[W]orkmen raised a scaffold to the top of a Manhattan apartment Tuesday and ripped out the famous red-tailed hawk’s nest.The act appeared to end an urban drama that has fascinated bird-watchers over the past nine years, as Pale Male and a succession of mates raised 25 chicks — the last trio of fledglings last June — on the narrow 12th floor ledge over Fifth Avenue.
The hawks also achieved a measure of world fame, through television specials and a book, “Red-Tails in Love.” On summer weekends, crowds have gathered at the Central Park boat pond to observe them.
Why would anyone think it would be okay to do this? That was their home. Hopefully, they will find a new one and build a brand new nest. But it's still sad. Nine years is a long time to live in a place to have it suddenly demolished by some asshole real estate company. I'm thinking it might be a good idea to write Brown Harris Stevens a little letter telling them how bad they suck. If you'd like to send them your own thoughts, the mailing address I tracked down is as follows:
655 Madison Ave.
New York, NY 10021
Contact: Hall F. Willkie, President
212-906-9200
fax 212-906-9288
Maybe I'll hand deliver it and give them a piece of my mind while I'm there.
Posted by Maria at December 8, 2004 11:36 PM | TrackBackMean People Suck!
Maybe the owner of the building will get a good rat infestation now and there will be no Hawks around to kill em off.
I wouldn't be surprised if they come back and try to rebuild in the same place. perhaps those assmasters will get the hint and leave it the hell alone. but probably not.
Posted by: girl at December 9, 2004 09:06 AMRed-Tails will generally return to the same nesting spot. If the nest is damaged or missing, it's not at all unusual for them to just rebuild one in the same spot.
I wouldn't be surprised if he returns in the spring and slaps up a new one.
Posted by: Geoffrey at December 9, 2004 09:34 AMNot surprisingly, Pale Male and his mate have already been circling that spot with a great deal of confusion and distress about where their home has gone. I plan to write Brown Harris Stevens management today. I urge anyone who is outraged by this to send them a letter as well.
Posted by: Maria at December 9, 2004 09:45 AMIf you are lazy like me: info@bhsusa.com
I will email them Maria.
Posted by: Darcie at December 9, 2004 10:53 AMWhat an ass!
Posted by: pam at December 9, 2004 07:28 PMI e-mailed them just now.
Posted by: girl at December 9, 2004 10:54 PM.
ANIMAL-LOVERS!!!
.
A response from the info@ link above -
December 9, 2004
Dear Friend of Pale Male,
I am writing to you to tell you that I am as sad and as upset as you are
about what has happened to Pale Male's remarkable nesting site.
Your message, however, is being directed to the wrong person and
company. Brown Harris Stevens Residential Sales is a real estate
brokerage firm. We do not manage properties and are not involved in
this event.
An affiliated firm owned by the same holding company, Brown Harris
Stevens Property Management, acts on behalf of the building cooperative
owners at 927 Fifth Avenue in a management capacity.
I assure you that I will forward your message.
Thank you for allowing me to respond to you.
Sincerely,
Hall F. Willkie
President
Brown Harris Stevens Residential Sales
I got the same form letter back too. I have my doubts that they'll bother forwarding the e-mails.
Posted by: girl at December 10, 2004 07:39 PMOh, don't be a downer. You're going to flatten my hope for humanity. I absolutely positively have to believe that he will care and that he will forward it through the food chain that is BHS. He's just gotta.
403
who is clicking heels furiously
403 you are one funny cat. You just made me laugh out loud.
Posted by: Maria at December 10, 2004 09:05 PMpurrrrr
Posted by: 403 at December 10, 2004 11:05 PMA HUGE STORY BARELY COVERED; please help us...
Hi guys, this is Bethann from http://www.gasolineboycottday.org
and Citizens Take Charge! We've been monitoring the Delaware oil spill at my post: "Are you ready for this? It's about time! (***not for the weak at heart)" - in the Democratic Underground's General Discussion Forum...
Meet the co-founder:
http://gasolineboycottday.org/me.jpg
This is a special post dedicated to the wildlife affected by the oil spill. The people at the "scene of the crime" are Tri-State Bird Rescue and they're working desperately around the clock to save thousands of animals (geese, turtles, ducks and more) in the area.
I just sent them $20 bucks to help out. You can send a couple of bucks too or you can donate sheets, towels, Ensure (plain vanilla) and Pedialyte to assist in the care of the oil-slicked animals. Call it and early Christmas present for the animals we love. AND, if you live in the area and have some spare time, you can volunteer. The agency is looking for help in that regard as well.
Here's all the links you need to learn more about helping Tri-State Bird Rescue & Research, Inc.:
http://www.tristatebird.org/featured/oil%20spill.htm
http://www.tristatebird.org/giving/helping.htm
http://www.tristatebird.org
You can reach me at the following links for more information about our grassroots org., Citizens Take Charge!, and our Inauguration Day protest, Gasoline Boycott Day:
http://www.gasolineboycottday.org
admin@gasolineboycottday.org
citizenstakecharge@yahoo.com
Oil-slicked bird: http://us.news2.yimg.com/us.yimg.com/p/ap/20041128/capt.pajk10411282134.oil_spill_pajk104.jpg
Please do your best to pitch in and help save these poor animals...
Thanks,
Bethann
What happened and what we're doing...
Hello everybody,
This is Bethann, co-founder of Citizens Take Charge! & Gasoline Boycott Day
http://www.gasolineboycottday.org
We need everyone on Randi's board to help us get vocal on Jan. 20 about the environmental catastrophe on the Delaware River.
THE SPILL HAS SPREAD TO 3 STATES AND THE TRI-STATE RESCUE FACILITY IS TAKING IN AT LEAST 20 OIL-COATED BIRDS PER DAY! THERE ARE OIL SPILL ADVISORIES IN PLACE IN NEW JERSEY, PENNSYLVANIA AND DELAWARE! THE PICTURES ARE AWFUL!
This story (next post) is huge and it has made the significance of our boycott of gasoline so much more important... I just informed people over at the Democratic Underground about this more-than-a-week-old story (I've been on top of it since Nov. 26). They are upset over there and want to get involved. And we need more of Randi's fans and their friends to get involved too...
What was really astonishing was that AAR'S MIKE MALLOY didn't even know about the spill when I spoke to him on his show the other night. After I briefed him about the news, Mike did an online fact check with his producer, Kathy. They were both shocked and Mike felt terrible for not having known about it... If you haven't heard about it until now, don't feel bad if Bush TV deprived you of the story and the pictures (previous post)... Bush TV doesn't want you to know the messy details...
Our environment along the northeastern shoreline is in BIG trouble. That means our health is at risk from the long-term effects of the spill and our habitat has been permanently decimated... We want people to know that we're here to help you get vocal about this atrocity. Please join us. We need you, the world needs us... We can stand together and fight for alternative energy starting Jan. 20...
Story from Sunday Dec. 5 (a week after oil spill)
OIL SPILL ON DELAWARE RIVER GROWS WORSE, INJURES WILDLIFE
Sun Dec 5, 2004 (LATEST NEWS UPDATE)
By David Zucchino Tribune Newspapers: Los Angeles Times
Like a mutant blob in a horror movie, an oil slick first thought to be relatively small has grown bigger and more menacing over the past week, oozing its way down the Delaware River.
When the Greek tanker Athos I began leaking heavy Venezuelan crude oil into the river the night of Nov. 26, it appeared to be a manageable spill confined to a terminal--just 30,000 gallons, according to estimates. But authorities now warn that it could be as much as 473,000 gallons, a gooey mess that has stained as many as 70 miles of shore along three states.
Further, investigators are trying to determine whether a gash and a puncture in the ship's hull were caused by an 11-ton, 13-foot-wide propeller that fell off a dredge owned by the Army Corps of Engineers in April and was left on the river bottom.
The muck has killed birds, fish and turtles. It has shut down a nuclear plant and threatened a dozen freshwater streams and tributaries. It has slid past a pristine nature reserve and spread to within 3 miles of drinking water intakes for Philadelphia and southern New Jersey.
And it was still oozing Friday, leaving a black smear 4 feet high along the stone seawall that keeps the Delaware from flooding Ft. Mifflin, a Revolutionary War battlement. Stiff sea winds spread a sharp chemical odor across the freshwater tidal marshes that straddle Interstate Highway 95.
The spill is not exactly the Exxon Valdez disaster--10 million gallons dumped off Alaska in 1989--but it could be the worst ever on the Delaware, surpassing the 300,000 gallons spilled by a tanker in 1989.
The spill has surprised and shaken a region where most people are only vaguely aware of the immense oil refineries that dot the uninhabited, low marshlands just south of Philadelphia. Tankers deliver a million barrels of crude each day to the refineries that produce 70 percent of the gasoline sold in the Northeastern U.S., according to the local maritime exchange.
More than a thousand workers were on or along the river Friday, trying to contain the spill with 94,000 feet of absorbent booms. Despite the effort, the environmental and economic damages probably will be in the millions, authorities said...
Oil spill story 2 from December 11 (yesterday)
Delaware River Oil Spill's Effect On Wildlife
Dec 11, 2004 6:00 am US/Eastern
PHILADELPHIA (KYW) Many oil soaked birds couldn't get much lift as they flew near the troubled ship that changed life along the Delaware River.
As CBS 3's Carol Erickson explains, the oil tanker leaked misery for countless creatures that depend on the river for food, shelter and breeding. More than 80 miles of water and shore are now covered in petroleum slime with only problems at the end of rainbow colored slick.
"Everything eats everything else, so when small critters eat it, bird then eat it the contaminated fish," said Kathy Klein, Executive Director of the Partnership of the Delaware Estuary.
WaterFowl are the first, most obvious victims of the two-week-old oil spill of still undetermined size.
Executive Director of the Tri State Bird Rescue in Delaware Christine Motoyoshi says that birds are still being found and they're in even worse shape than the first batch that arrived: "They're coming in sick because they've had effects of this being on them for a longer period of time."
Erickson has learned that more than 100 birds have gone through the wash basin assembly line at the bird rescue.
An hour of vigorous scrubbing and rinsing and three large bottles of dawn dishwashing liquid per bird gets the feather destroying oil off. The wet feathers are dried in a special heated room, where the finally clean birds rest silently with other injured birds.
Eventually, the animals get to a pre-release room, where they begin to feel well enough to pick at the tag that will track their location once they're released.
On Friday, 20 cleaned Delaware River WaterFowl returned to the wild, set free in Maryland.
"Our hope by releasing in Maryland is to keep ducks and geese away from the contamination zone and they won't risk being re-contaminated again," said Motoyoshi.
Although the cleanup continues, the full impact of the oil spill on the Delaware won't be known for a long time, but the crude that spilled is the heaviest kind, used to make asphalt. As a result, it's not going away quickly.
"We're not really clear what impact, but it is going to have an impact. It's not going to be a pretty site come spring," added Klein.
Erickson says that next is the animals that live underwater, including fish, horseshoe crabs, and the rest, waiting their grim turn with the sinking oil.
If you see wildlife oiled by the spill, call the response hotline at (215) 365-1558.
ABOUT US:
Support change in environmental and energy policy...
Hello, my name is Bethann from Gasoline Boycott Day
and Citizens Take Charge! I am an editor for a daily
newspaper and the co-founder of Citizens Take Charge!,
my grassroots activist organization. We're trying our hardest
to connect and network with as many of you as we can.
A bit about us that we hope many people here would
call to everyone's attention...
Citizens Take Charge! is a nonprofit, grassroots org.
fighting for new and effective alternative energy
policy. The matter is going nowhere fast with Bush in
office. We should have had solid alternative energy
policies in place by now. But Bush has been a major
impediment to progress regarding this issue. Mother
Jones will be discussing his failures this week in
their magazine report...
The boycott has been extended another day. It will
begin on Jan. 20 (Inauguration Day). Repetitive
boycotts of gasoline will ensue. January 20th was
chosen to be our kick-off boycott because of the
significance of the day. A day in which an oil man,
who happens to be our president, will take office and
begin to plunge our environment into chaos. He will
continue the oil-driven Iraq conflict, he'll soon be
drilling for oil in protected lands in Alaska, and
he'll also be pursuing more off-shore drilling. These
are just SOME of his plans...
What we've initiated right now is a full-fledged
movement - a nationwide push for alternative energy
resource funding and legislation. January 20th is just
the beginning. Repetitive boycotts will ensue. We're
shooting for about 5 to 10 per year to accomplish our
goals. These boycotts of gasoline will occur on
specific days which are hopefully just as significant
and symbolic as Jan. 20. We're prospecting a few
national holidays, as well as some environmental
holidays, such as Earth Day (April), National Wildlife
Week (April), and World Environment Day (June).
So it's all about timing (for impact), message (for
demand), and unity (for common ground and cause). This
is a massive undertaking. It takes adequate funding,
resources, organization, planning, maneuvering, timing
and effort to achieve what we're hoping for. We have
support from all across the U.S. and we've teamed up
with universities who help us stay on top of the game.
Currently, we have Gasoline Boycott Day Boycott
Captains and Petitioners in 5 regions of the country
and we're branching out to more areas every single
day. We're not messing around this time. Other
gasoline boycotters in the past failed because they
lacked the foundation and support we have. We've only
begun to dig in the trenches and fight. We're working
to win the battle for new energy on the ground and
from the ground up. We mean business and we won't stop
until the plans drawn for alternative fuel sources
land on the floors of Congress.
I hope you can help us by just spreading the word.
There is so much environmental devastation happening
right now, especially with the Delaware oil spill.
When I was a recent guest on The Mike Malloy Show and
The Laura Flanders Show (Air America Radio), I briefed
them on the massive spill that took place on the
Delaware River Nov. 26. Mike and Laura hadn't even
heard of the week-old story. Both of them were shocked
and very upset to discover 473,000 gallons of crude
were missing in our water and that 3 states' habitats
were affected. At the same time, they were glad I
called it to their attention because they had missed
the big news. I told them not to feel bad because
"Bush TV" had barely covered the story.
Anyway, that's who we are and what we plan to do. I
hope that I've garnered your support for our
massive effort. We need you and we thank every
activist and American reading this comment for their
time.
Sincerely
Bethann
co-founder, Citizens Take Charge!
& Gasoline Boycott Day
http://www.gasolineboycottday.org
admin@gasolineboycottday.org
citizenstakecharge@yahoo.com
"First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then
they fight you, then you win." - Mahatma Gandhi
Heh. You got spammed by the enviros.
Posted by: Geoffrey at December 12, 2004 08:40 AMThank you for that information Elizabeth. I wish I could say I'm surprised that this hasn't been heavily covered in the news. But I'm not in the least. I haven't heard a peep about it until now. I could be to blame for not paying better attention, but I also suspect it's not being highly publicized.
Geoffrey, it's better than some of the spam I get from certain readers at times.
Posted by: Maria at December 12, 2004 12:13 PMYeah, but they're gone now.
Posted by: Geoffrey at December 12, 2004 09:52 PMIt appears that Paula Zahn and her husband are behind the uprooting of the hawks. FOX had the story on at least 3 times yesterday. I guess some of the tenets at 925 Park Ave. don't want them. Mary Tyler Moore lives in the building and said she could care less if they were living from her kitchen window, just leave them be. I thought that was nice of her. They went on to show footage of Zahn from 2001 slamming these hawks in an intervieww.
Posted by: pam at December 16, 2004 08:49 AM