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The Law of Unintended Consequences – Dead Eagles and Dead Humans

By Guillermo Camoriano

          The June 2 issue of “The Courier-Journal” reported that Kentucky Wildlife Officials destroyed an eagle egg.  The egg was destroyed because, given the laws for the protection of eagles and eaglets, it was much easier and cheaper to destroy the egg than it was to let nature take its course.

          Since the facility where the egg was laid does not have a federal permit for raising eaglets, it would have been in violation of its permit if it attempted to raise a hatchling.  Furthermore, the exhibit would have to close and the site would have to be monitored 24 hours a day, requiring overtime for which the facility is also not authorized and does not have the money.  Shipping the eaglet to a licensed facility would also have cost money, and the state would have had to pay for the eaglet’s care while in that licensed facility and until the bird was released into the wild.  The egg was suddenly a major liability, so its destruction was the most expedient solution.  The mother eagle fought valiantly to protect the egg, but, in the end, the law which was supposed to save and protect eagles and their young actually doomed this eaglet!

          I have seen this Law of Unintended Consequences bring about opposite results than those intended many times before.  For instance:

          - In Honduras, where I am originally from, a law was passed to protect trees; rampant deforestation was the unintended result.  This is how it happened:

          A law was passed nationalizing all trees, declaring them a national patrimony, in an effort to reduce deforestation.  Trees on your property were suddenly no longer yours; they now belonged to the state.  With the stroke of a pen, suddenly nobody wanted trees on their property, as they became a liability (you could not enjoy the use of your land because you could not cut the trees).  As a result of the new law, nobody took care of any existing trees; first because you would not enjoy any benefits from trees you cared for as they were no longer yours, and second because trees on your property were actually a liability, so it was a blessing if they would just die.  The end result was deforestation in a never-before seen scale, culminating in the Hurricane Mitch catastrophe, which killed thousands of Honduran people due to landslides caused by the deforestation.

          - Again in Honduras, a law was passed to try to reduce the country’s fuel consumption; the unintended result was skyrocketing fuel usage.  This is how it happened:

          A law was passed in the early 70’s, taxing the importation of cars at a rate of 200% (not a typo -- if your car cost $15,000, you would pay $30,000 in duties in order to import the car).  The intent was to discourage more cars and thus reduce the fuel usage for which Honduras, being an oil importer, had to pay precious hard currency.  In order to spare farmers this hardship, trucks were exempt from this import duty.  The official definition of “trucks” was any four-wheel drive vehicle.  Thus, the general population began importing four wheel drive vehicles, such as double cab pick-up trucks, gas-guzzlers to replace their much more fuel efficient sedans.  The fuel consumption in Honduras shot way up!

          While it is easy to look at other countries like Honduras and see the mistakes they make, we in the USA are not exempt from this law of unintended consequences, as proven by the eagle incident.  Another example is our Minimum wage laws.  We can not create wealth through legislation.  Otherwise, if minimum wage is good, wouldn’t double the minimum wage be even better?  Passing such a law actually hurts the people it is “supposedly” intended to help.  Someone with marketable skills can easily demand a good pay, because the employer will derive more benefits than the wages he must pay.  However, the uneducated and unskilled may be unable to find employment because they simply can not produce at a rate which justifies paying them the minimum legal wage.  While a person may be employable at $ 4.50 an hour, at the law-imposed minimum wage rate he may be unemployable.  Now this person is unemployed, suffering from low self esteem because he can not find a job, and fully dependent on welfare to survive.  At $4.50 an hour, at least he would be employed, have a sense of self worth, and have an opportunity to learn on the job.  Even if welfare were used to subsidize his pay, at least he would not be 100% dependent on welfare.

          The above examples show a disregard for common sense and a lack of respect for private property and free will, and, as a result, they backfired and produced just the opposite of their intended outcome.  As it stands right now, I would be very concerned for the mama eagle.  As long as she was thought to be sterile, all was OK.  Now that we know she is fertile, unfortunate changes may lurk in her future.  I certainly hope she fares better than the thousands of my countrymen for whom a feel good law had a deadly outcome.

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