NAFA President 1972-1983

DONORS:

North American Falconers’ Association, Cynthia Avery, Ronald G. Clarke

Ev and Bea Horton, Alan and Sally Jenkins, Marek Plater, Robert B. and

Carol S. Berry

oger Thacker, 71, of Versailles, Kentucky, passed away

on July 18, 2011, surrounded by the love of his wife

and daughter, after a courageous battle against Parkinson’s

disease. He lived a life hallmarked by many great

adventures and accomplishments.

Born in London, England, Roger came to the United States at the

request of Ohio State University to assume management of the OSU

Animal Research Services and Operations. After ten years there, he

accepted a position of Animal Care Manager at the University of

Connecticut.

In 1975, he became Director of Northwest Trek Wildlife Park in

Eatonville, Washington. He left Northwest Trek to accept the position

of Manager of Research Animal Care Services at the University of

Kentucky, where he remained until his retirement.

With life-long interests in conservation and agricultural

organizations, Mr. Thacker held numerous ofﬁces within those ﬁelds,

including The North American Falconers’ Association, the North

American Peregrine Foundation, the North American Wolf Society,

American Sheep Industry, North American Woolgrowers Association

and the Kentucky Woolgrowers Association. He was instrumental

and nationally respected for his work assisting with recovery

efforts that ultimately brought the peregrine falcon back from near

extinction due to DDT exposure.

Mr. Thacker was a member of St. Andrew’s Anglican Church in

Versailles and was survived by his wife, Linda; daughter Devon

Thacker Thomas; son Paul; and his sister Rosemary Emmett of

England. He was preceded in death by a son, David, and his parents

Evelyn and George Thacker of Bournemouth, England.

Roger is best remembered as the president of NAFA from 1972-

1983. He served as president for the longest period of time in NAFA’s

history, and during a period of important changes in US falconry.

Roger steered the falconry community through the adoption of

federal regulations, the decline of the peregrine falcon and the

consequences of the Endangered Species Act, the growth and need

of a strong national falconry organization. Roger was ably assisted

during this difﬁcult time by his good friends Ed and Charlotte

Frienmuth (Colorado) and Will and Joby Shor (California).

Together, they formed a team that kept NAFA on course to preserve

falconry as a hunting sport, provide longwings for falconers (for

example, at the 1981 NAFA meet in Joplin, Missouri, there were only

2 longwings present!), and ensure that NAFA had a strong voice in

Washington, D.C.

Despite the serious threats to US falconry during his tenure, Roger

knew how to have a good time: He served as best man for Ed and

Judy Henkel’s wedding as exercise presidential privilege in kissing all

ladies while presenting their game pins – during the meets he would

make sure that they went to the best hawking ﬁelds!

U.S. Senator Alan Simpson and Roger

He was instrumental and

nationally respected for his work

assisting with recovery efforts

that ultimately brought the

peregrine falcon back from near

extinction due to DDT exposure.

A LIFELONG DEDICATION Stan Marcus

Roger Thacker served in an ofﬁcial capacity for the North American Falconers Association (NAFA)

for 23 years, ﬁrst as its secretary for two years (’71-‘72), then as its president for 11 years (’72-’83),

and, lastly, as a director-at-large for 10 years ‘(84-’93). He worked tirelessly to obtain, protect, and

preserve freedoms to practice responsible falconry in the face of the ever continuing encroachment of

irrational protectionism.

Initially, Roger’s top priority project was to promote the USFW’s adoption of a set of falconry regulations.

In January of 1976 the long awaited “Federal Falconry Regulations,” largely designed and promoted by

NAFA, were issued. However they contained no provisions regarding the captive breeding of raptors nor

the use of the progeny therefrom for falconry. It took seven long years during Roger’s presidency, but

ﬁnally, in July of 1983, “Raptor Propagation Regulations” were published by the Service.

During this same period Roger worked to overcome one of the most formidable legal problems for

falconers in the United States – the use, for falconry, of captive bred progeny of legally held endangered

raptors. This was prohibited by the Endangered Species Act of 1973 (ESA). An amendment to the

congressional act was required to remove the restriction. In November of 1978 the sought after

exemption for raptors was enacted to the delight of the falconry community. No other order of the

animal kingdom has a similar exemption from the ESA. Roger deserves a great deal of credit for this

accomplishment, but he would be the ﬁrst to insist that many NAFA member and non-member falconers

provided very crucial contributions to the effort.

These advances created ancillary issues to be attended: identiﬁcation markers for individual birds, how

to avoid corruption of wild species lines by accidentally released captive bred hybrids, and safe methods

for transporting endangered species. Also, during Roger’s term of ofﬁce, NAFA created a “Breeding

Registry” for the raptor breeding community.

Another major campaign was for the legalization of taking and using golden eagles for falconry. Roger

was fortunate to see his and his committee’s efforts successful with the publication of suitable regulations

in the Federal Register in 1982. These regulations allowed “depredating immature golden eagles” to be

captured and used for falconry instead of their being shot.

As to his efforts regarding hunting with raptors, in 1977 Roger began to pursue hawking privileges in

federal refuges. That privilege has ﬁnally been granted in at least one refuge. Another milestone was

reached when in 1979 NAFA applied for and falconers were granted an opportunity to obtain special and

expanded seasons for hunting federally protected waterfowl.

In 1975 Roger became president of the North American Peregrine Foundation (NAPF) which had been

formed to solicit ﬁnancial support for research projects in falcon breeding for the endangered peregrine

falcon. The organization had a number of breeders who donated captive bred prairie falcons and Harris’

hawks which were made available to falconer/contributors. By 1980 NAPF had produced and distributed

49 falcons. The organization closed some years later but not before donating the funds to purchase the

land for the World Center for Birds of Prey.

One of the quite daunting tasks Roger took upon himself was to scrutinize the Federal Register and a

broad range of literature and other resources for any activity which might conceivably impact the sport

of falconry. This included laws, regulations, international treaties, and publications by conservation

organizations. He interacted with many government ofﬁcials at all levels up to and including the

Secretary of the Interior. He was also in contact with ofﬁcials in the largest conservation organizations in

this country, and of course, he kept NAFA abreast of the information he gathered.

Roger’s activities were not limited to domestic challenges. Early in his presidency he worked on matters

associated with obtaining birds from foreign countries. One item of concern was covered by the

”Injurious Wildlife Regulations” which required that imported birds had to be subjected to an expensive

(and potentially quite hazardous) quarantine period in a government facility before the importing party

could receive them.

Naturally, the objective

there was to avoid the

introduction of any

harmful avian pathogens

or parasites. However,

falconers were able to

justify an exemption

which allows them to

maintain their bird

in quarantine in their

private, personal facility.

Another major challenge

was presented by

the Convention on

International Trade in

Endangered Species

(CITES) which listed gyrfalcons and peregrine falcons among the most critically endangered birds in the

world. Roger crusaded, ﬁrst for an exemption for falconry, then for downlisting the peales and tundra

peregrine subspecies and the gyrfalcon to a less critical category. His gyrfalcon objective was achieved in

1983.

Many things Roger achieved on behalf of NAFA and falconry have been omitted. However. the fact that he

was assisted by and grateful to many dedicated falconers in achieving his objectives should not be omitted.

During his term as president, NAFA membership increased from 200 to 1500 and the number of NAFA

afﬁliates increased from 2 to 21.

In1983, still devoted to NAFA, Roger ran for and was elected as a Director-at-Large. He continued tracking

legal and political matters for the Association but promised to spend a lot more time aﬁeld with his birds.