Homer, Alaska, may be the one place on Earth where bald eagles rule, and some humans are beginning to feel endangered.

It is a place where the majestic symbol of America can be found on movie theaters, cars, and light posts; there are dozens at a time on rooftops. They sometimes collide with traffic and are accused of stealing pets out of yards.

Unlike the rest of the country, where the bald eagle nearly went extinct until recently (they’ve since been removed from the government’s Endangered Species Act), they have always been abundant in Alaska.

But it’s so bad in this coastal town, 110 miles from Anchorage, that some people have resorted to shooting bald eagles. “Yes, some people are doing it,” retired federal biologist Ed Bailey told ABC’s Neil Karlinsky.

Bailey said the eagle has become a town menace, but it’s an opinion 82-year-old Jean Keene, known around here as the “eagle lady,” does not share.

She feeds the nearly 15-pound birds raw fish every day during the winter and has seen the population grow from about five 20 years ago to a daily average of 150, sometimes hundreds more.

The eagles come to see her, and despite her town’s grievance with overcrowding she thinks it’s fine to encourage their arrival.

“If they’re fed in a safe place and the right kind of food, I see nothing wrong with it,” Keane said.

Story