Dutch Harbor post office asks wildlife officials to help stop eagle attacks

Images of eagles cover postal service vehicles and uniforms nationwide, but in the Aleutian Islands, real live eagles are landing on the heads of customers picking up mail at the Dutch Harbor post office. With eight eagle attacks reported outside the Dutch Harbor post office this year, the U.S. Postal Service is conferring with another federal agency on the best way to protect customers, according to Dawn Peppinger, a USPS marketing manager in Anchorage. Peppinger said she only learned of the problem last week after a local postal employee contacted her in response to questions from the Bristol Bay Times-Dutch Harbor Fisherman. The next day, she said she’d contacted the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in Anchorage for advice. Eagles are a federally protected species. While she said she’s still researching the issue, one likely solution is to remove the nest from the nearby cliff following nesting season, with a FWS permit and working with the property owner. Eagle attacks are routine during the summer nesting season in Unalaska, and warning signs are posted near where people walk under the cliffs where the protective raptors are tending their offspring. On June 29, the Unalaska Department of Public Safety reported another attack: “Caller reported having received several lacerations, requiring medical attention, after being attacked by one of the pair of nesting eagles at the Dutch Harbor post office. Additional warning signs were provided for the parking lot at the PO.”...more