Chicago police are scuttling plans for a shooting range on the Southeast Side less than a month after the discovery of the first bald eagle nest in the city since the 1880s, a city official confirmed today.
Two eagles have built a massive nest along the Little Calumet River next to a marshy industrial site that police have long coveted for an outdoor shooting range. Their presence remained unknown until a bird-watcher spotted a mature adult and a younger bird in late January, prompting a closer look by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the Illinois Department of Natural Resources.
Even though the United States' national bird has been taken off the endangered species list, federal law gives it added protection. As a result, the Chicago Police Department would have been required to obtain a special permit to build the shooting range so close to the eagle's nest.
Mayor Rahm Emanuel's office had backed the gun range after a city study concluded that noise from up to 40 shooters would barely be perceptible in ecologically sensitive areas nearby. Police focused on the site because it is surrounded on three sides by a landfill and is about a mile from the nearest residential area.
All of that changed once the eagles showed up.
unfukkin real, some contractors have to be pissed off right now
Two eagles have built a massive nest along the Little Calumet River next to a marshy industrial site that police have long coveted for an outdoor shooting range. Their presence remained unknown until a bird-watcher spotted a mature adult and a younger bird in late January, prompting a closer look by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the Illinois Department of Natural Resources.
Even though the United States' national bird has been taken off the endangered species list, federal law gives it added protection. As a result, the Chicago Police Department would have been required to obtain a special permit to build the shooting range so close to the eagle's nest.
Mayor Rahm Emanuel's office had backed the gun range after a city study concluded that noise from up to 40 shooters would barely be perceptible in ecologically sensitive areas nearby. Police focused on the site because it is surrounded on three sides by a landfill and is about a mile from the nearest residential area.
All of that changed once the eagles showed up.
unfukkin real, some contractors have to be pissed off right now