Sanity Takes A Migratory Flight

Hutchinson wants to discourage egrets

HUTCHINSON -- While some may enjoy the arrival of snowy-white migratory egrets, Hutchinson officials and residents are considering several different methods to get the birds to move somewhere else.

The first step was directing Hutchinson Police Chief Dick Heitschmidt to develop a new team to address an annual problem that drew federal officials back to Hutchinson this week. The birds, which some consider a nuisance because of the smell and noise they create, are a federally protected species, complicating any control measures.

Full Wire Service Article, Topeka Capital Journal, October 5, 2006

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My letter to the Topeka Daily Capital (which carried the wire service article and makes their archives available for free) the Hutchinson News, and other papers:


Dear Editor:

Apparently, certain government officials and other citizens in Hutchinson Kansas have spent too much time in evidence rooms. Now the local police chief has been directed to remove egrets, a most magnificent and beautiful bird, from a town whose primary claim to fame is a prison.

How ironic that in a world with too many people that are so self-centered that they have no respect for the rights of others to live their lives in peaceful harmony, who lack appreciation for nature’s splendor, the Hutchinson "law enforcement" are preparing to inflict and perpetrate that mindset.

Sincerely,

Terry L. Clark