First of all I give…

First of all I give permission to share this entire comment that I am submitting to others; and thank you for the opportunity to comment. I have been a master-class falconer in the USA for approximately 25 years now. I am a graduate of North Dakota State University, Fargo North Dakota, USA with a B.S in Zoology. I have worked with the Federal Government for 30 years as a Natural Resources Specialist with much of that work involving prairie falcon, ferruginous hawk, and golden eagles in the State of Wyoming.
The scientific community and game management biologist are well aware of the very high morality rate of first year apex predatory birds, due to starvation, predation, electrocution, and being hit along roadways from motorized vehicles. Some studies suggest that as much as 80% of first years birds do not survive to breeding adults in the population.
The wild take of raptors often times involves the capture of birds that are in a starved or biologically stressed situation, as for that reason they boldly come into the different trapping methods. If they were well fed the drive of hunger would not bring them in for capture. When that falconer takes this first year juvenile bird from the wild it is in no way affecting the current breeding population for the following year. These birds are not sexually mature and have not formed reproductive pair bonds. The fact is however, when the falconer takes the bird from the wild, it is now safe from starvation, electrocution and other predators. This is very important for the first year juvenile raptor. In the hands of the falconer, the bird learns how to hunt, is treated for internal and external parasites when needed, and has a much higher rate of survival as compared to a first year bird going into a winter season as prey species numbers drop lower each passing week during the non-reproductive period of winter.

In time many falconers introduce their birds back to the wild after they been used for falconry, and when they are introduced they are in top health and condition with experience in hunting due to the training of the falconry purpose. It is believed that the art of falconry in fact is aiding in the survivability of many raptor birds which is contributing to more mature breeding pairs in the wild population.
As a professional falconer, I am sharing my comment that the wild take of your native raptors species as seen in the big picture of things is only helping your total raptor breeding population in the long run. This is something that should be considered as a very good opportunity, due to the fact that properly licensed and trained falconers from all over the world have greatly helped birds of prey everywhere by taking in young non-mature birds and assisting greatly with their surviving the very harsh first year of life from leaving the nest to surviving the first winter period. Thank you for reading my comment.