A wonderful example of what can go right is happening in Wisconsin and New York. Dianne Moeller, a wildlife rehabilitator, has been working to resolve this issue and has obtained a pledge from the Wisconsin DNR (Department of Natural Resources) to inspect every landfill in Wisconsin and work to implement the changes needed to protect these birds. Sadly, before this process could be put in place, another raptor was killed. In January a red tailed hawk was found near Madison, both legs and its lower body burned off.
Right here in New York the NYS Association for Solid Waste Management and the Federation of New York Solid Waste Associations have pledged to reach out to each NYS region and advise them on this issue. A NYSASWM and FNYSSWA board member, Eric Swenson, read Stella Miller’s article on the topic in the latest edition of Huntington-Oyster Bay Audubon's newsletter and was so moved by it that he brought it to his board of directors. They then made the decision to act on this. We have now issued a joint press release, along with NYS Audubon. Both organizations are eager to be the industry leaders on this issue and next want to take it nationally. Please click here to see the press release.
The two solid waste associations brought this topic up at their annual conference on May 4th and are swiftly working on and implementing an action plan in order to identify problematic landfills in New York State and encourage individual landfills to remedy the situation.