Falconry

I don't particularly want a falcon. I don't like hawks. They always look like they're mad, and considering that they're antisocial birds of prey, they probably always are. But if there's anything that is going to make me descend into insane libertarianism, it's falconry regulations.

The US government, for reasons all its own, had decided that one thing we need to heavily regulate is pet birds. I can understand wanting to regulate steel mills and chlorine factories and nuclear arms posession, but falcons? Here are some of the US guidelines: To own one falcon, you must, "pass a written test, have your equipment and facilities inspected, and serve a minimum of two years as an apprentice under a licensed falconer." It is illegal to ever keep more than three falcons. State laws are usually stricter still.

Now apart from the fact that it might be fun to take a falconry test ("Inspirational people can be a huge force on our lives. Describe a falconer in your life who has inspired you to overcome adversity or challenge yourself"), this is a big old nuisance. I know that falcons are hard to take care of. They presumably require a lot of exercise (or else what? They get crankier still?) and need a lot of training, being stupid and all. And I know that poaching birds from the wild is the kind of thing the government just discourages in general.

But what is the catastrophe that they are trying to prevent here? Someone has a falcon, and manages it badly, and...? The falcon attacks people? This would be an amusing outcome, but I don't think birds usually go on the rampage. They tend to avoid people. It would take a lot of training, and a lot of skill, to make your hawk into a murderer. These regulations are not going to prevent that.

Nobody likes falcon abuse, but it's not a big problem. The number of people who shell out for a raptor, then mistreat it is probably way smaller than the number of people who mistreat their dogs. We don't keep dogs under federal lock and key. The falcon problem is even less bad than the dog-and-cat problem, as a matter of fact. If you get a falcon, and discover that killer birds are not for you, just let it go. Release that bird into the wild. They revert to a feral state after a few weeks. No harm done.

Someone would probably say that these regulations are in place to track falcons and prevent destruction of nests, theft of fledglings etc. But possession of chickadees and field mice isn't regulated so harshly, even though it's a crime to capture these animals. Prosecute the destruction of nests if you want (but does the US really need another red-tailed hawk?) but look the other way if I have a little bird. I say if you want to get a pet falcon, more power to you.