Site Fwd: Bombing Pacific Sea Birds on Farallon de Medinilla in the Northern Marianas

(Pacific Golden Plover. Photo: Wikipedia)

(Farallon de Medinilla. Photo & Map: Pacificworlds.com)



Ten Thousand Things

Monday, January 31, 2011

Bombing Pacific Sea Birds on Farallon de Medinilla in the Northern Marianas

Farallon de Medinilla (FDM)The bombings of Pacific migratory birds on Farallon de Medinilla (a small coral island in the Northern Mariana Islands, around 45 miles north of Saipan) continued this year.

Farallon de Medinilla is the habitat of more than a dozen migratory bird species, including breeding colonies of great frigatebirds; masked, red-footed, and brown boobys; red- and white-tailed tropicbirds; white and sooty terns; brown and black noddys; and other species of migratory seabirds. The narrow island, uninhabited by humans, is one of only two small breeding colonies of the great frigatebird in the Mariana island chain, and is also the largest known nesting site for masked boobies in the Mariana and Caroline islands.

The U.S. military uses the island for live-fire training, during which bombers drop mines and bombs and fire high-explosive rounds, machine guns, cannons, and missiles destroy bird habitat and kill birds.

In 2002, the Center for Biological Diversity sued the U.S. Defense Department to halt illegal killing of migratory birds and destruction of wildlife habitat. A subsequent court ruling ordered the U.S. Defense Department to cease bombing exercises on Farallon de Medinilla until they came in compliance with the Migratory Bird Treaty Act:

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