Bald eagle nesting pairs in the USUS pet food total market sales
The American bald eagle recovered and the American pet industry prospered between 2005 and 2021, and the two curves have climbed together (r = 0.958) in what amounts to a shared story about taking better care of things with claws. One soars free; one naps on an orthopedic memory-foam bed. Both receive, in the end, federal protection of some kind.
Bald eagle nesting pairs in the continental US grew from about 9,700 in 2005 to over 71,400 in 2021, completing the recovery that the 1972 DDT ban had set in motion; US pet food sales grew from $15 billion to over $45 billion in the same window, with premium, fresh, and subscription categories driving the growth. Both are cultural stories of American relationship to animals — the wild eagle protected by law, the domestic pet protected by a 15-lb bag of grain-free kibble — and both reflect the same post-2000s shift toward treating non-human creatures as worthy of specific, sustained attention.
The eagle fledges. The labrador eats salmon. One country, doing better by its animals, at uneven scales.
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