I crossed Bass Strait last month in search of an eagle, not one of the feathered kind but the symbol of my son’s favourite soccer team, Crystal Palace.
The “Eagles” were in town to play another English Premier League team, Manchester United, at the MCG.
Although the trip had nothing to do with my interest in birds, when I looked closely at the stylised eagle on the Crystal Palace guernsey, I couldn’t help but be drawn to the powerful symbol the eagle holds in our popular and sporting culture.
I was also drawn to a powerful contradiction in how the eagle “brand” – think of other sporting codes – conflicts with the fate of eagles in the real world.
Eagles, and not just the south-London football club, had flown into my thoughts when I read that very same morning newspaper coverage of the Government’s latest State of the Environment report.
The front-page news made alarming reading, especially the references to threated birds, including the wedge-tailed eagle.
Throughout history the eagle has symbolised courage, strength and immortality. It has been considered the “king of the skies” and messenger of the most supreme of gods. In ancient Rome, the Roman legions carried a symbol of an eagle as their standard.
In more modern times, the eagle has been adopted as a totem by at least 14 countries and it is ironic that most of the eagles, if not all, that inspired flags and coats of arms are now under threat.
Perhaps the most famous eagle to have fought a battle for its survival is the bald eagle of the United States. It might feature on the seal of the US President, but it had to be rescued from extinction after its population crashed from an estimated 50,000 birds at the time of European settlement of the Americas to a mere 300 breeding pairs in the 1960s.
The threats facing the eagle were the same as those now affecting eagles worldwide, including the wedge-tailed eagle. These threats include logging and habitat destruction, collisions with man-made structures, illegal shooting and exposure to poisons contained in pesticides and rodenticides.
In Tasmania, the wedge-tailed eagle is listed as critically endangered, its population down to a few hundred birds.
The State of the Environment report recorded catastrophic losses of wildlife and habitat across the country. Since the last report in 2016, 17 bird species have either been added to the endangered list or upgraded to the critically endangered category, along with 17 mammals and 19 frogs.
As the report states, since the arrival of the First Fleet in 1788 Australia has lost more mammals than any other continent.
We all know of the fate of the Tasmanian tiger. Now the report warns that another symbol of wild Tasmania, the wedge-tailed eagle, is flying in the same direction along with two Tasmanian parrots, the orange-bellied and swift.