Ex-Wildlife Chief: Trump Rule Could Kill Billions of Birds

By AMY BETH HANSON and MATTHEW BROWN Associated Press
BUTTE, Mont. (AP) — The Trump administration is moving to scale back criminal enforcement of a century-old law protecting most American wild bird species. The former director of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service told AP billions of birds could die if the government doesn't hold companies liable for accidental bird deaths. On the edge of a former open pit copper mine in Montana, sirens and the pop of propane cannons are meant to keep geese, swans and ducks from landing on a lake of toxic water. Montana Resources ��says it will keep up efforts to scare birds away after thousands landed and later died in 2016.