There were many decades in which the U.S. national symbol was believed to be headed for extinction, but the species has since made a remarkable comeback. The Bald and Golden Eagle Protection Act was passed in 1940 to keep the bird from being hunted after the bald eagle was found to be endangered. DDT offered another threat to the survival of the bald eagle, and continued to feed the decline in numbers after the birds were no longer hunted. In 1963 the numbers of breeding pairs was only 417, leading to the 1973 inclusion in the list of endangered species.



Instead of extinction, the bald eagle has dramatically reversed its declining numbers. Today the number of bald eagle breeding pairs is almost 10,000 and it is no longer listed on the endangered species list. But, experts will not leave the bald eagle vulnerable to decline again. The bald eagle's numbers will be monitored for a few years to make sure they do not begin to decline again. The monitoring assures that if the number of bald eagles falls again that there will be a quick response to place the birds back on the list of endangered species.

Even without being reclassified as endangered, the Bald and Golden Eagle Protection Act is still there to keep the animal from being hunted. There is also protection afforded to the eagles from an act passed in 1918- the Migratory Bird Treaty Act. A few other countries, as well as the U.S., were obligated to protect the bald eagle and other migratory birds from being hunted thanks to the act. Buying and selling the eggs, feathers or nests of bald eagles are all made illegal under the act, keeping the birds safe from those who would hunt them for profit in Canada and Mexico as well as the U.S.

Further protecting the number of eagles from decline is the ban on DDT in 1972. DDT was found to be a major factor in the downfall of the bald eagle, as well as many other animal species, as the toxic chemical found its way through the food chain. DDT traveled up the food chain to the bald eagle, and other animals, causing a steep decline in the number of breeding pairs. The pesticide washed from the fields to the waterways and eventually into bald eagles. When the eagles caught fish from these lakes and streams, the fish had already been contaminated. The chemical then affected the eagles by keeping them from producing the hard shells needed to protect the baby eagles until it was time to hatch. Bald eagle eggs from contaminated mothers were so thin that the mothers often broke the shells during the incubation period. With DDT now gone, the number of bald eagles can continue to grow.