Missouri officials to remove peregrine falcons from state endangered list

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) – Missouri officials are moving to remove peregrine falcons from the state’s endangered species list. The Missouri Conservation Commission gave initial approval Friday to the removal.

The plan, however, calls keeping the bird as a species of conservation concern.

Peregrine falcon populations plummeted nationwide during the 1940s through the 1960s due to the widespread use of pesticides such as dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane in their food chain.

The Missouri Department of Conservation said in a news release that the birds were removed from the federal endangered species list in 1999 but have remained on the state list.